


After the Sun Sets

by HikariKirameku



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-03-17 12:56:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13659438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HikariKirameku/pseuds/HikariKirameku
Summary: Miguel makes it home after his fateful Día de Muertos. Everything appears to be back to normal, but little does he know the curse still lingers...





	1. Sundown, Pt. 1

It had been a long day for Miguel. Even longer considering the fact that he hadn't actually slept yet. During that fateful Día de Muertos, he had managed to get himself cursed, gotten nearly killed twice by his former idol, found his long-lost great-great-grandpa Héctor, barely got his blessing to get sent home before the sun completely rose, and had managed to successfully spark Mamá Coco's memories to save Héctor from succumbing to the Final Death. After all of that, he still had one last challenge...how he was going to survive the aftermath of having disappeared for the entire night from his living family.

He knew he was going to need some kind of explanation. His parents weren't about to let him off the hook that easily. If only he could tell them the truth without sounding absolutely crazy. Fortunately, he had a reprieve. After Mamá Coco had shared her memories of her Papá Héctor with the family, the family was too stunned at the seemingly miraculous events to want to have to spoil them with any more family drama for the time being. Miguel's father, Enrique, merely told Miguel that he was to stay in the family hacienda until further notice. That was easy, since once the exhaustion of the evening caught up with him, he immediately went to his room, hid the guitar under his bed as a precaution, had a quick breakfast, a bath, and a change of clothes into a comfy t-shirt and jeans combo, he fell asleep in his room soon after.

A few hours later, he was woken up by his mother, Luisa, for lunch. His mother wasn't about to let him sleep all day, even if he was still groggy. After lunch, he at least confessed as to where the guitar had come from. So now, the adults were currently preoccupied with how to explain a stolen guitar from a tomb, even if it _had_ belonged to a family member. Miguel stubbornly refused to give it back. He couldn't tell them about it, but he refused to let that precious guitar sit in tomb of its rightful owner's murderer any longer.

Instead, he made the argument that it rightfully belonged to the Riveras, and that the photo proved it. The letters Mamá Coco had kept also proved that Héctor's songs had also been stolen, and Ernesto de la Cruz didn't deserve the praise he had been given at all, let alone having Héctor's guitar in his tomb. Not knowing what had come over Miguel all of a sudden, but seeing how adamant he was about some sort of justice being done, his father and his  Berto decided they would talk to the city officials about it.

In the meantime, Miguel busied himself with cleaning the guitar. He borrowed some soft brushes and a clean polishing cloth from the workshop, and carefully coaxed the dust out from the nooks and crannies of the guitar, restoring it to its former glory. It really was still a sight to behold. A beautiful, one of a kind instrument, that had finally found its way home. He couldn't even be upset that it had caused him to be cursed the past night. He just wished there was some way he could give it to Héctor without having to wait.

He sighed, resigning himself. "Next year, at least", he said to the guitar, as if it could understand him. "Mamá Coco remembered her papa, so he should be okay. His photo can be put on the ofrenda, he can cross over, and I'll make sure you're there waiting for him. He should be able to do that....thing...I saw the other skeletons do, and take you with him, right? At least sort of?".

He knew the physical guitar would still, at least, be left behind.

"...and I may not be Papá Héctor, but I promise I'll take care of you just like he would!", he said earnestly.

While he didn't think the guitar was really listening, and definitely didn't expect an answer, it made him feel better to talk to someone...or something in this case. He couldn't exactly talk to his family about any of this. Normally, he'd talk to Dante about his troubles but, even if he was around and not in the Land of the Dead as a new alebrije, he still wouldn't have been able to sneak him into his room.

"You know though?", he continued as he took the guitar and absentmindedly strummed a few notes, "If I could, I really would love to see Papá Héctor, Mamá Imelda, and everyone else again...if, you know...it wasn't so dangerous".

He wasn't exactly too keen on pushing his luck after his previous brushes with death. As it was, the memories made him shudder, causing the note he was currently playing to waver a bit.

He decided to focus on happier memories instead, and before he knew it, he was performing a much less raucous version of "Un Poco Loco". His family let him keep the guitar for now, but he wasn't willing to push his luck. For right now, at least, he was content to be able to play quietly in his room and he was hope that the music ban would be lifted for good.

Eventually he tried working on playing the melody of "La Llorona", reminiscing about his Mamá Imelda's amazing performance (as well as stomping on Ernesto's foot, which made him smile to himself). It was during this time his mother knocked on the door, coming in to check on him. Startled, he let out a small gasp, and there was a soft "thunk" against the guitar as he muted the sound of the strings.

"C-come in..." he called out tentatively, his nervous, sheepish smile on his face as his mother peeked inside.

"I-I'm being good mama, I promise. Look, I cleaned Papá Héctor's guitar! I just got bored so I...was playing...i-if that's okay?".

Luisa merely smiled.

"Está bien. Just don't play too loudly. I don't think your abuelita is still too used to the idea of music in the house again just yet".

As she saw Miguel frown a little, she added, "But I hope you'll be able to play some of those lovely songs for your little sister someday."

He lit up at that, and his mother smiled once again before taking her leave. He remembered that his mother would have listened to music before he was born, before she'd married his father. She had to give up music for family. After last night, he finally understood what that felt like. Now, however, he was on the verge of seeing it returned, as it should be. It was a bit surreal, almost as if his Mamá Imelda's change of heart had somehow crossed the threshold of death, and made it to her living family as well.

He made a mental note to ask his mother what some of her favorite songs had been. He might be able to learn to play some of them for her later.

Miguel mostly stuck to his room the rest of the afternoon, barring a quick trip to visit his Mamá Coco in her room. He had wanted to tell her of his adventures in the Land of the Dead, and meeting her Papá (as Mamá Coco was the only person he was willing to tell). However, his abuelita Elena was already in there at the time, so he merely ended up peeking in. Mamá Coco seemed to have started becoming her usual forgetful self again. Miguel would make sure to play "Remember Me" for her as many times as he could, to help her remember. Even if she'd passed down Héctor's stories, protecting his memories for generations to come, it was still sad to think about her slowly forgetting about him again.

Eventually heading back to his room, he had taken to the task of coming up with an appropriate place to keep the guitar. A guitar stand of some kind would have been preferable, but on such short notice, it wasn't an option. He eventually made due by clearing a corner of his room of the bit of clutter any 12-year-old tends to have, and set a spare pillow there. He placed the body of the guitar on it, and carefully leaned it against the wall, so it was snug. Satisfied with his work, he smiled and hopped out to his bed, opening the nearby window above it.

The early evening air felt wonderful, and was still a comfortable temperature. He leaned on his windowsill to just appreciate the view, and the slight breeze on his face. As it neared closer to sunset, his little town of Santa Cecilia was bathed in orange hues reminiscent of the stray Marigold petals that still scattered the ground after last night's celebrations.

He heard his mother knock on his door.

"Miguelito, dinner's about ready. Go get cleaned up and come eat."

"Okay!", he called back, and closed his window and curtains for the time being, hopping off the bed and heading towards the door.

It was as he reached out to turn the doorknob that he saw it. A foreboding tinge of white at his fingertips, the skin turning transparent with only the faintest outline.

It took a moment for him to process what he was seeing, but there was no mistake...

Somehow, horrifyingly, he was once again becoming cursed.  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, thanks for reading! This is my first proper fanfic. I come from a background of forum roleplaying, so I'm trying to adapt that kind of writing style into fic-making. Either way, this is the first time I've written anything in probably 15 years (yes, I am old...or at least older than the average Coco fan, lol). The movie was just too good, and had too much potential for fun storytelling, that I couldn't pass up the chance to try my hand at it. The whole "curse making Miguel see-through and skeletal" was an aspect of the movie I really liked and wanted to explore further in different scenarios...guess I'm just a bit morbid like that :P I know the "Miguel stays cursed" concept has been done before, but I wanted to try my own twist on it. As for story format, this fic is going to be more episodic than anything. While I do have some set plot points I plan to write, expect a lot of stuff just for fun too as Miguel navigates the situation I've so rudely tossed him into (but hey, at least I didn't kill him off like some writers! XD )
> 
> Anyways, Part 1 was fluffy set-up. Expect part 2 to bring some pain. I'm hoping to have it written soon as well. It's outline was finished alongside part 1, I just figured I'd split it into smaller pieces for easier writing, and to get the first bit out there (and to get that little cliffhanger hook. :P )
> 
> P.S. - Spanish was kept to a minimum, as I do not speak it and am too worried about screwing it up. I'll add it where I feel comfortable in doing so, but I'll mostly be relying on Google translate. Feel free to point out any mistakes.


	2. Sundown, Pt. 2

“AAAAAAAHHH!!!!!”  
  
Miguel screamed in horror, and stumbled backward til he was on the floor, his legs giving out from the shock. He stared at his hands, the skin on his fingertips completely transparent now, and quickly disappearing down his fingers. Not only was he still cursed, it was happening so much faster than last time!  
  
“NO! Nononono! This can’t be right! I got my blessing! What is going-!!!”, he gasped, his eyes widened as he heard footsteps quickly approaching his door. Scrambling up off the floor, he got to the door just in time to lock it before his mother could reach it.  
  
“MIGUEL! Are you alright, mijo?!”, Luisa called out, her voice concerned. She tried to enter, but the locked doorknob merely rattled. When she heard no reply, her voice became even more anxious.  
  
“Miguel, what’s wrong?! Please open the door!”. More frantic footsteps followed, this time Miguel’s father and abuela.  
  
“N-NO! DON’T! DON’T COME IN!”, he cried out in panic from his position on the floor, his voice shaky from his body trembling. He knew the last thing he wanted was for his family to see him as a skeleton, as he was sure he would be soon at this rate. The curse had finished its work with his hands, and was now creeping up his lower arms.  
  
Of course, his outburst only served to make matters worse, as his family on the other side of the door were now desperate to get in there.  
  
“Migue! It’s Papá! Please, open the door!”, Enrique begged. Off to the side Miguel hear him add “Mamá, go get the keys!”, and Mamá Elena was off to fetch them, wondering where Miguel’s newfound habit of locking them out of rooms today was coming from.  
  
It was only a matter of time before his family would see him at this point. Miguel tried to think, but the gears of his mind screeched to a halt as he watched the curse claim his upper arms. He pulled up his shirt, and sure enough, only his hip bone and spine met his gaze, with his ribs quickly following. It took most of his remaining willpower at that moment not to faint, as he caught himself from falling over on the floor completely.

In full-on panic mode now, an even worse thought crossed his mind. What if he was about to get sent back to the Land of the Dead? What if he’d still end up stuck there for good, regardless of the blessing? Even if he wasn’t, It was only a matter of time before his family managed to get in there and they’d see him like this, and how was he going to explain?! Either way, he was trapped and out of options. At this point, he did the only thing his panicked, 12-year-old mind could think to do…

He dove into his bed and buried himself under the covers.  
  
By the time Luisa, Enrique, and Mamá Elena got into the room, the only hint of Miguel was a sobbing, shaking mound of blanket. The crossed look on Mamá Elena’s face softened, as his parents gave each other brief worried looks before Luisa made the first move.  
  
“Mijo?” Miguel heard his mother moving closer towards the bed. He wrapped the blanket around himself and pulled back closer to the wall, sniffling loudly. He felt a shift on his bed to his left, his mother sitting on the edge of it beside him, and soon on his right when his father followed suit. He couldn’t see his Mamá Elena, but he was sure she was most likely standing in front of the small bed. He was surrounded. He wondered if the rest of the family was also listening in on them all at this point too.  
  
“Mijo, it’s okay...we’re not angry. Your papá and I are only worried about you. Please, tell us what’s wrong?”  
  
He felt his mother’s hand rest gently on his shoulder. He flinched and pulled back, bumping up against the wall and clutching the blanket even closer.  
  
“N-NO!...I-it’s not...it’s not okay!” Miguel choked out between tears. He wished at that point that he could become invisible to the living like before, but it didn’t seem he was so lucky. From their next response, they had clearly heard him. It was his father who spoke up this time.  
  
“Mijo...I know we weren’t...the most understanding yesterday, but I promise, whatever it is you have to say, we’ll listen.”  
  
“Your family is here for you”, Mamá Elena added.  
  
“So, whatever is worrying you, we’re here to help.” His mother gently caressed the back of Miguel’s blanket-covered head, and he flinched, though this time he didn’t back away. He could feel himself shaking like a maraca, and thought it was a small miracle his bones weren’t rattling, though it might have been drowned out by the pounding of his heart in his chest...the feeling of which was now the only sign it was still even there.

He _wished_ he could tell them, he wanted to be able to tell him, but he wasn’t even sure how. He was sure no matter which way he tried, they’d freak out (dios knows he did), and he wasn’t even sure if they wouldn’t kick him out of the house at that point. What would he do then?! He didn’t even want to think about it.  
  
He felt his mother move to pull him closer and try to calm him. At first he clutched at his protective blanket and refused to budge, but then found himself slowly allowing himself to be drawn towards her...desperate for some form of relief. Without relinquishing the blanket, he slowly allowed himself to shuffle into his mother’s embrace all the same, and she wrapped her arm around him and gently held him to her side. He couldn’t be more thankful that, as transparent as it was, his skin and flesh were still there, keeping his bones from betraying his current state to his mother’s touch. He then felt his father’s hand on his head, almost as if to ruffle his hair, before joining his mother by bringing his arm around Miguel’s other side. His abuela also came close and patted his head, but had to resign herself to standing nearby since the bed was already full.  
  
He just sat in his parents’ embrace, sobbing, not sure what to say or do. Luisa caressed the back of his head once more, but this time the blanket shielding it pulled back, and by the time he realized, it was too late. He could see his family, and they could see him, or at least his face. He froze, his eyes wide, like a deer caught in the headlights. What did he look like now?!  
  
His mother merely smiled gently as she brushed tears away from his eyes.  
  
“Está bien, I’m here...nothing to be scared of…”, and gave him another hug, before his father gave him a hair-ruffle for real.  
  
Miguel could just look back and forth at them all, his mind racing...how did they not notice anything wrong? Could they not see it? The curse had already had plenty of time to overtake him...unless it didn’t? He gently pulled away from his mother before moving back towards the window. He nudged the curtains open just slightly with his blanket-covered hands, enough to see his reflection in the window glass.

He was greeted by a red, tear-streaked, but still very much alive-looking face. His skin, cheeks, and the dimple he was so fond of were all still there, much to his surprise and relief. It wasn’t affected by the cursed. Could, by chance, this whole thing have been some kind of dream or hallucination? He risked peeking down under his blanket, so only he could see.  
  
His sliver of hope was soon crushed, however. As he looked down, he could see the bones of his sternum and collarbone peeking out from under the collar of his t-shirt. He quickly wrapped himself back up tightly. He was still most definitely cursed. While it was a small comfort to know that at least the curse didn’t overtake him completely, he still had no idea what exactly he was going to do. He was back to square one, and still very much surrounded.

His odd behavior didn’t go unnoticed.  
  
“Migue? You’ve been acting strange this whole time. What’s wrong? Can you tell us?”, Enrique said, gently, but concerned.  
  
“Ay, Mijo...I know I was hard on you yesterday. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been. I want you to be able to trust me, us, to trust your family”. He could tell his Mamá Elena was trying at an awkward apology.  
  
He turned to face all of them again, shuffling back into the space between his mother and father, tears still in his eyes. He wasn’t sure what to tell them, _how_ to tell them. He still didn’t even know exactly what was going on. It was all too much.  
  
“I…”, he finally managed to say in a shaky voice, barely above a whisper, “I want to. I want to be able to...to tell you...but, I don’t… I mean… it’s crazy. I’m not even really sure what’s going on.”  
  
He was barely able to keep his train of thought. _Could_ he do this? Or, would he just resign himself to spending the rest of the foreseeable future as a blanket burrito? The last option was definitely the most appealing right now, but it wouldn’t do anything except delay the inevitable. He was sure there was no escaping his family this time. It was a miracle they hadn’t interrogated him this morning when he’d come back after disappearing all last night, and those rarely happen twice in one day.  
  
“It doesn’t have to be everything, if it’s too overwhelming. Just start by what you’re most comfortable with, and we can go from there”, Luisa encouraged him. He couldn’t have been more thankful for their patience at this point. He knew, however, that he was about to put it to the test.  
  
“Okay”, he said softly. “You have to promise me you’ll listen to everything though, no matter how loco it sounds…”  
  
Luisa, Enrique, and Mamá Elena all looked at each other with slightly concerned, slightly confused looks before looking back to Miguel.  
  
“Okay?”, said Enrique, not really sure what to expect.  
  
“Seriously, this is going to be the craziest thing you've ever heard in your life”.  
  
More awkward looks from his family.  
  
Miguel just sighed. He was still nervous, but it was time to get this over with. He took a deep breath to calm himself, like he did before a performance, and did his best to steel himself before he launched full-bore into his story.  
  
“Okay...Last night I got cursed by trying to take that guitar, ended up like a ghost, met our dead family, who were all skeletons, and spent the night in the Land of the Dead trying to get a blessing to come home from my great-great-grandpa because Mamá Imelda refused to give it to me unless I never played music again. I thought it was De la Cruz so I tried to meet him, and I did, but then it wasn’t, and it turned out he’d murdered Papá Héctor for his songs, and Papá Hector was my _real_ great-great-grandpa, but I didn’t know cause the picture was torn and my only clue was the guitar, which was _also_ stolen. We tried to get his other photo to bring back, cause De la Cruz took _that_ too, so he could see Mamá Coco one more time, cause he was disappearing cause she was forgetting him, but I lost it when I got thrown off the...err…”, he decided not to elaborate on that part, “...but anyways, the sun was coming up, and I was about to be stuck there as a skeleton forever, so Papá Héctor and Mamá Imelda gave me their blessing with no conditions, and I came back and saved Papá Héctor by making Mamá Coco remember with their song…”  
  
He was breathing hard and talking a mile a minute, just wanting to get it over with, knowing full well his parents and Mamá Elena were already at a complete loss.  
  
“But even though I got their blessing, and the curse should have been broken, for some reason I’m cursed again! I don’t know!” And with that, Miguel finished his story. The embarrassment of how ridiculous it all must have sounded made his already red face even brighter, and he held is head in his blanket-covered hands. He wasn’t surprised by what came next.  
  
“Mijo, what...?”  
  
“Cursed?” His Mamá Elena wasn’t really sure what to think, but she’d caught the words ‘cursed’ and ‘guitar’ in the same sentence, and threw a glare at it in the corner of the room all the same.  
  
“It wasn’t the guitar’s fault!”, Miguel’s face shot back up, sensing the danger. Even if he wasn’t sure she even believed him, there was no doubt in his mind his Mamá Elena wouldn’t take a chancla out on the guitar if she got even a hint of suspicion it had done something to harm her grandson. He figured she was still merely tolerating its presence as it was, priceless family heirloom or not.

It was then Miguel heard muttering from outside his door. His extended family members were out there too, eavesdropping. Miguel wasn’t surprised. At any rate, the amount of crazy he’d just dropped was too much for them to stay quiet any longer. Miguel once again pressed his face into his blanket with a groan, frustrated that even though he worked up the courage to tell them the truth (albeit a very confusing, abridged version) that it was still getting him nowhere.

“Migue, what...do you mean? I’m sure it was just a dream?”.

“It wasn’t a dream either! _Argh_ , I _knew_ you weren’t gonna believe me. I mean, I told you it was loco. It’s true though, I… I can prove it...”. The last part was said softer and more reluctantly than the rest, as he really didn’t want to have to show them anything. He knew it wasn’t going to end well, but he also knew his options were also very limited at this point.

‘ _Well,_ _if I’m going to get this over with, I might as well all at once_ ’, he thought.

“Everyone should just come in, if you’re spying on me anyway”, his reluctance giving way to a hint of annoyance. Sometimes he really wished his entire family didn’t have to get involved. Bad enough he was going to have to show his parents. Still, there wasn’t any use in keeping secrets once anyone in his family found out anyways, so he just resigned himself to getting this all over with at once.

To be honest, it wasn’t really easy for everyone to gather in Miguel’s tiny room, but they managed. His Tías and Tío lined up behind Mamá Elena, while his primos Rosa and Abel stood behind their parents closer to the door. He could see the two twins chasing each other back and forth outside the door, the only ones too young to be interested in the family drama. Everyone else was looking at him with mixed expressions of worry, confusion, and incredulity. He merely looked back at them with nervousness, as he overheard his Tías and Tío muttering something about him making up wild stories, and Rosa was rolling her eyes at him and shaking her head as she said something to her brother. He started to regret calling them in.  
  
“Miguel?” His mother put her arm on where she figured his was under his blanket, a look of concern on her face.  
  
“I know you don’t believe me mamá, but I swear I’m not crazy, and I’m not making this up”.  
  
“But…”  
  
“Just...just look”, he said, exasperated, as he held out his blanket-draped right arm.  
  
“This is going to be scary, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” The annoyance in his voice hid his trepidation, though his trembling body betrayed otherwise. While he still wasn’t sure if this was even the right thing to do, he slowly pulled the blanket away with his still-covered left hand.  
  
The arm Miguel revealed was nothing but bones, their shining white reflecting the soft yellow of the light from his room. The outline of his transparent skin shimmered, the rest practically invisible.

It took a moment for his family to register what they were seeing. To Miguel, it was almost like watching in slow-motion, as the expressions changed from doubt to shock and horror. A chorus of small gasps could be heard, hands were drawn over mouths, and Miguel immediately regretted his spur-of-the-moment decision. His resolve shattering by the second, his arm slowly dropped to his side before he drew it back under his blanket. Then...

“Ah, no, please don’t faint!” Miguel yelled, as his mother, Mamá Elena, and surprisingly, his cousin Abel all nearly succumbed. The latter two were steadied by the rest of the standing family, while Miguel managed to support his mother long enough for Enrique to intervene, quickly moving over and supporting Luisa from behind. Almost everyone, whether they’d realized it or not, had backed away from Miguel, save for his mother and father who had been forced to stay near the bed.  
  
Everyone present looked like they’d seen a ghost. Well, Miguel was close enough. He quickly looked back and forth at the scene. He’d known this was bound to happen, but he hadn’t planned for the aftermath. He hadn’t really had a plan for _any_ of this. All he knew is the looks he was getting from his family _hurt_ , even more than any of the reactions he’d gotten from the skeletons in the Land of the Dead. The looks of absolute shock, horror, confusion, and disbelief, and worse yet, _fear_ , written on their now pale faces filled Miguel with feelings of shame, embarrassment, and guilt.  
  
“I’m sorry…”, was all he could manage to say. A horrible, awkward silence permeated the room. Miguel couldn’t stand it. He wanted to reassure them, but couldn’t. His earlier reaction was proof enough he was just as freaked out as they were, and he was still almost just as clueless.  
  
He’d tried to handle this as best he could, but he’d finally hit his limit. His route was open and before anyone knew it, he’d jumped off the bed, still clutching his blanket, and ran.  
  
He barely missed bowling over the twins right outside the door. He kept going, past the kitchen area, and the dinner that had been waiting for everyone.

He wasn’t really thinking. He just knew he needed to escape, to get away, to go someplace safe. His legs automatically led him to the one place he felt he could go at this point, to the one person who hadn’t been present during this whole ordeal, but who he’s always felt he could tell everything to.  
  
He ran to his Mamá Coco.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I am hella nervous posting this, cause I didn't have a beta-reader this time, and the bulk of he editing was done at a stupidly late time of the night because work hates me. I was really wanting to get this up though, and so much like Miguel in this chapter, I pretty much just went "screw it" and went for it. I just hope I still did a decent job, and this ends better for me than it did for him...poor kid. I'll have to put him through just a bit more emotional angst before this is over.
> 
> Anyways, I wasn't expecting this to need a part 3, but like most writing, this thing decided where it wanted to go and I was helpless but to follow. I literally threw out my chapter outline halfway through this chapter, lol. I think I like where this is going though, and I've already come up with a vague idea of how things are going to play out, despite this unexpected turn of events...and maybe, just maybe, I can wrap up the "Sundown" part of the story in the next chapter.
> 
> Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed (and if you spot any stupid errors I didn't catch, please let me know in the comments so I can fix them).


	3. Sundown, Pt. 3

Miguel didn’t have far to go. Mamá Coco was in the ofrenda room, sitting quietly in her wicker wheelchair as always. He ran to her, falling to his knees, arms crossed in her lap, and just sobbed into his blanket. As he knelt there, wracked with sobs, his Mamá Coco merely gave him a gentle smile as she gently patted his head with her withered hand.

\-----

It took a minute or two for the rest of the family to register what had just happened, and by then, Miguel was gone. Again.

Luisa looked to Enrique, to the door, then back to her husband.

“Miguel...w-we need to find him!” she whispered, her shock slowly being replaced with worry. She had a bit of difficulty getting up off the bed thanks to her pregnant belly, but Enrique was there to offer assistance. He was also still looking a bit shaken, but was also becoming more concerned with his son’s well-being.

“I don’t think he would have gone far...we'll search the hacienda first.” He said, and two of them were out the door without another word.  
  
Mamá Elena watched them leave, and it took her a moment to collect herself before she turned to the remaining Riveras, finally finding her words.  
  
“We’ll all look for him,” she ordered. While Papá Franco wasn’t one to argue with his wife, the rest of them were a little less than enthusiastic, looking around at each other with apprehension, murmuring comments to each other.  
  
“Ay, Dios mio...” Mamá Elena said, shaking her head. She stepped up as Matriarch and rallied the troops.  
  
“I know we’re all shaken up over... whatever it is we’re dealing with here, but our poor Miguelito must be more frightened than any of us. I’ve told him his family will be there for him, and I’ll be damned if I’m taking that back now.”  
  
“So, no more complaints, find him before dinner gets cold. He can’t have gotten far. VÁMANOS,” she yelled that last bit, reaching for her chancla. No one needed to be told twice. They decided they’d much rather deal with a cursed child than her wrath at that particular moment.

Alone in the room, Mamá Elena took a moment and glanced at the guitar in the corner, and then shook her head.  
  
“Ay, this was my fault,” she muttered to herself with a hand on the bridge of her nose, before she also joined in the search.

\-----

Miguel sat with his Mamá Coco, his eyes now out of tears, just kneeling with his head in his arms on her lap. He wasn’t sure what to say, or what to do. He’d only come here out of a last-ditch effort to find someone not terrified of him now. He looked up at his Mamá Coco’s wrinkled face, and she returned the look with a gentle, one-toothed smile. He couldn’t help but give a small smile back.  
  
Everything he’d gone through, everything he was going through now, was a result of the events that eventually saved his great-great-grandfather Héctor, her papá, from being forgotten and disappearing forever. Knowing Héctor would one day get to see Coco’s smile again after almost one hundred years of waiting made it all worthwhile.  
  
His only regret was that his living family would now be terrified of him. Would that even matter though? What would happen to him after sunrise? Had the blessing he received been just a bit too late? Just enough to send him back for one more day before he was forced back to the Land of the Dead as a permanent resident?  
  
He tried to banish the thought from his mind. There was no telling what would happen, but there was no point in thinking of the worst-case scenario either. It wouldn’t do any good.  
  
His Mamá Coco looked down with gently questioning eyes. He was sure she’d been curious as to why he had suddenly come running into her room crying his eyes out, but she hadn’t spoken. To be honest, he wasn’t sure if she even realized who he was right then, but she also didn’t seem to be the type to turn away a child in need of comfort.  
  
Miguel’s thoughts were interrupted, and his head shot up as he heard footsteps coming his direction. Were they looking for him? What were they planning on doing with him now? He wasn’t ready for that just yet.  
  
“Mamá Coco, don’t tell anyone I’m here,” he whispered to her, before he scrambled under the ofrenda tablecloth, moving under the far left side where the vases of flowers blocked the underside from being easily accessible, clutching his blanket and trying his best to breath as quietly as possible.  
  
Just in time, because a moment later, his Tia Carmen came running into the room looking for him.  
  
“Miguel? Are you in here?” she called. He didn’t answer. Her footsteps paced the room, and Miguel’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of the middle tablecloth being pulled up. He held his breath.  
  
Then there was the sound of cloth being dropped, and footsteps rushing back out.  
  
“He’s not in the ofrenda room either!” he heard her call to what he could assume was the rest of the search party.

As the footsteps faded, he left out a sigh of relief. It’s a good thing he thought not to hide in the middle, but after using it to hide Dante and his makeshift guitar, he knew it’d be the first place _he’d_ look, and figured the adults might too this time. Crawling back around, he peeked to make sure the coast was truly clear, before coming back out from under the table.  
  
“That was close...thanks for not telling them I was here Mamá Co-” he stopped. The blanket had gotten snagged on the way out, and had pulled away from him. He looked down at his now exposed arms, then back at his Mamá Coco.  
  
She merely stared at him a moment before giving a small smile. Did she not realize it was real? Maybe she thought it was a costume? She beckoned him over to her. He slowly, anxiously complied.  
  
“M-Mamá Coco?” he asked, unsure.  
  
She had held out her hand, wanting Miguel to take it. The calmness of the situation was almost eerie, and made him uneasy given what had just happened with the rest of the family. Still, he tentatively placed his hand in hers, and she drew him in closer to inspect it. As usual, her hands felt almost as boney as his now looked but, despite that, were still warm and soft.  
  
She rubbed the back of his transparent hand with her thumb.  
  
“Um...Mamá Coco?”  
  
No reply. She merely turned his hand over, and poked at his palm a bit. He couldn’t help but stifle a small smile at his Mamá Coco’s investigation. He found it amusing. His hands still had the feel of flesh, despite it being practically invisible. At least she seemed to be taking it well.  
  
“You met papá.” She finally spoke. It wasn’t a question. More like she was merely confirming it.  
  
He was surprised. It had been the last thing he’d expected to hear. Had she actually heard him when he told her earlier? Or had she managed to connect the dots on her own after? Either way, if you really thought about it, it would have been the only way Miguel would have known the things he did.  
  
“S-sí, you might not remember, but I told you this morning,” he answered. “It’s a long story but... I was cursed, and stuck in the Land of the Dead. I met your papá, learned who he was, how he died, and how much he loved you and wanted to come home. No one had put his picture up, so he wasn’t ever able to cross the bridge to see you, but he wanted to more than anything. He sang your song for me, that’s how I learned it. I heard your Mamá sing too, “La Llorona," while your Papá played the guitar. It was beautiful, like you said in your story.”  
  
Mamá Coco was smiling, giving Miguel’s hand a light squeeze. She definitely believed him. It was obvious from her face that memories she could still recall from her childhood were once again coming to the forefront. Miguel smiled, and he continued.

“Your Mamá and Papá looked like they’ll make up. They’ll be happy again. They sent me back with a blessing too, and I’m even allowed to play music, but...” his smile was short-lived as he looked down at his hands.  
  
“It doesn’t look like it worked. I had to get my blessing by sunrise, and I thought I did, but now I think it was just a little late,” he said, with a look of sadness and worry.  
  
“You’ll be alright, mijo,” his Mamá Coco said as she cupped his hand in both of hers.

He knew she couldn’t be sure, but she was trying to comfort him, and that alone made him feel a bit better. At least she believed him, she wasn’t afraid of him, and he was more than grateful for that than anything. At that moment, he help but give his Mamá Coco a big hug, though he was careful not to hug too tightly. She was rather fragile after all. Plus, it was going to be Papá Héctor’s job to give her the biggest hug.  
  
“Thanks Mamá Coco....and...you’re really not afraid of me? This is real, you know," he asked, holding up his free hand and wiggling his boney-looking fingers.  
  
She shook her head with an amused smile.  
  
“Thank you for Papá’s message," was her only reply.  
  
For the first time that night, his tear-stained face beamed. He gave his Mamá Coco one more hug. As he pulled away from her, he noticed she was pointing behind him.

He turned around, and his bones nearly jumped out of what was left of his skin.  
  
“M-mamá, papá!?" Miguel shouted, having been caught completely off-guard. He jumped behind his Mamá Coco’s wheelchair, peeking out from over the back of it.

His parents tried to give him an awkward smile. They were relieved to have finally found him, but now that they had, they weren’t really sure what to do either. They were worried for their son, but at the same time, seeing him like that filled them with dread. It wasn’t a sight any parent would want to see of their child, and something any normal parent never would, but by some twist of impossible fate, here they were. How were they even supposed to handle this kind of thing?

They looked at Miguel, then back to each other. Enrique tried to make the first move, but Luisa put her hand on his shoulder, and he relinquished his attempt to her. After all, while Miguel did adore his papá, he knew if anything could coax out his son, it would be his mamá’s patience and warmth. It’s one of the reasons he fell in love with her, after all.  
  
“Miguel?" Luisa spoke softly to her son, trying not to spook him after he’d already run off once before. He still had an open door he could attempt to escape from after all.  
  
“S-si…mamá?" there was no hiding the nervousness in his voice.  
  
“Can you...will you come out?”  
  
Miguel ducked down even lower, so all that could be seen was his hair shaking back and forth.

“I don’t want to scare you again…" was all he said, a tinge of guilt and sadness in his voice.  
  
“Mijo, está bien ..it’s okay. This is a rather...well, odd circumstance, and your papá and I, well we weren’t really prepared for anything like this, but… we’re sorry we reacted the way we did.”  
  
Miguel shook his head again, peeking back up.  
  
“No, it’s freaky. It scares me too. I can’t really blame you. I mean…” He grasped the back of Mamá Coco’s wheelchair enough for his stark white fingertips to curl over the top. He could see his parents flash uncomfortable looks, but they were quick to put the brave faces back on for his sake.  
  
“It’s not really a normal thing to be able to see someone’s _bones_ when they’re still on the inside," he added, rather sheepishly. He hated freaking out his parents more than he had to, but he also needed to know if he could really, truly expect them to try and accept him the way he was now, like his Mamá Coco had. Maybe, he thought, he could get them used to seeing it, little by little.  
  
“Does...does it hurt, mijo?" Enrique finally asked, worried.  
  
“Oh, no! It doesn’t at all.” Miguel shook his head again, quick to assuage any fears his parents had.  
  
“I actually don’t really feel any different. Ummm...actually…" he said, and they could tell from his voice he seemed to have gotten an idea, granted still unsure about it. He crouched down out of sight for a moment, before they noticed the shifting blanket on the floor. He was pulling it towards him. A moment later, he was confident enough to slowly step out, once again wrapped in its obscuring safety.  
  
He looked over to his Mamá Coco, before looking over to his parents.

“This is going to sound weird, but could you close your eyes?”  
  
His parents looked at each other, not really sure where he was going to go with this, before they looked back at him with bemused looks.  
  
“I promise I’m not going to run off again, so just...please?” He gave them a look like he was desperate for them to go along with whatever it was he was trying to do.  
  
“Alright mijo," his father relented. “Do you want us to just...stay here?”  
  
Miguel nodded. His parents did as he asked and closed their eyes.  
  
“Don’t peek, okay?" Miguel instructed. He cautiously started walking towards them. They were looking in his direction, following the sound the blanket made dragging across the floor. He stopped in front of them. They had looks of both bemusement and apprehension, but he appreciated that they were willing to play along when he knew they had to be just as nervous as he was.  
  
Letting the blanket fall, he reached out with trembling hands towards his parents, taking one of each of theirs in his. They flinched ever so slightly, but more out of surprised of being touched unexpectedly than anything.  
  
He’d gotten the idea from Mamá Coco inspecting his hands. Maybe, just maybe, they’d feel less anxious once they actually got to touch him?  
  
“See? It doesn’t feel weird. I don’t know _how_ , but everything’s still there.”

Indeed, it was. If they didn’t know any better, they’d say he wasn’t cursed at all. He _was_ still there, just as alive and warm as he’d always been.  
  
His mother let out a relieved sob, while his father fought back tears. Eyes still closed, they both followed Miguel’s arms to the rest of him, and embraced him. He tightly hugged them back. They didn’t flinch at his touch, and his eyes nearly became teary-eyed again from the happiness swelling in his chest.  
  
He knew then that they weren’t going to reject him. They still loved him. Even if they had trouble with his appearance, he’d understand too, but that’s something they could work on. He really could count on his family now, both Dead _and_ Living.

“I-if you want, you can open your eyes now, but you don’t have to if you don’t want…" Miguel told them, as they released from the group hug.  
  
His parents opened their eyes, and Miguel gave an awkward sideways glance. He was relieved, but was still self-conscious about his appearance. He realized his parents wouldn’t be the only ones that would have to work on that.  
  
“I guess...I’ll have to get used to this again too...heh," he admitted, giving a small sheepish smile, rubbing his forearm. “It wasn’t so bad when I was only around a bunch of skeletons. They’d freak out and stare cause I was alive instead. Kinda funny if you think about it, right?”  
  
Miguel attempted to try and keep the mood from getting heavy again, now that most of the tension of the situation had dissipated, but only managed to get awkward looks from his parents in return. On second thought, he realized casually talking about skeletons might not be the way to go. Switching gears, he picked up his guardian blanket once again to wear. He’d take things slow.

"Ah, sorry. Guess it's not really a good time to joke about that." Miguel apologized.

“Ah, well..." His father tried to brush it off by changing the subject. "More importantly...are you sure you’re going to be alright?”  
  
“Is there going to be any way we can...fix this?” His mother both asked, concerned. Well, it was only natural they’d be worried too.

Miguel didn’t have any easy answer for them.

“I don’t know. This was all supposed to be fixed already," he said, sadly.

His parents were silent for a moment, also looking disappointed at the lack of answers, before Enrique put on a more cheery face.  
  
“Well, we won’t get anywhere just moping around here. Your abuelita has dinner ready for us. Why don’t we eat first, and we can try and figure out the rest after?”  
  
“You’re hungry too, right?” His mother asked.  
  
“Yeah, I’m-" then he paused. “Umm, but if it’s alright with you, could I maybe...umm...eat in my room? I don’t know if I’m ready to deal with, you know, everyone else yet.”  
  
“As long as we can manage to convince your abuelita, but I think she’ll understand," Enrique nodded.

“Go wash up, and wait in your room. We’ll go round everyone up and let them know you’re safe," his mother instructed, and patted his head before she gave him a small nudge to his back to send him on his way.  
  
“Ah, and pick up your blanket so you don’t trip! I’ll be in to wash it later," she called as he made his way out.  
  
Once Miguel was out of sight, his mother finally broke down. Enrique held Luisa as she finally let loose all the tears she’d been holding back, and even he was misty-eyed as he tried to stay strong for his wife.  
  
Mamá Elena finally made her presence known, walking into the room and hugging the both of them. She had actually been the one to spot Miguel as he’d snuck out from under the ofrenda, but was wise enough to know she wasn’t the right person for the job, and alerted Enrique and Luisa instead. After instructing her husband to round up the others in the dining room, she had listened in from outside the doorway.  
  
“Ay, I think we could all use some time to help us deal with this. I’ll take Miguel’s dinner to him. You go sit with the rest of the family," she said, as she started to gently herd them to the dining room as well.

\-----

Miguel was in the bathroom, washing his hands, making a frown at his reflection in the mirror as he did so. He hadn’t really seen that much of himself either. It really was no wonder everyone reacted how they had. In the Land of the Dead, outside of his hands, he’d been hidden by his hoodie most of the night, only getting glimpses of other bones here or there. Now, he could see nearly his entire arm, as well as his sternum and collarbone, even some upper ribs, peeking up from his collar. In the bright light, one could even make out the vertebrae of his lower neck, through his translucent skin there started to become more opaque as it got further up. He pulled up his shirt, and sure enough, nothing but spine and ribs, with his pelvic bone just peeking out over his jeans.  
  
“Man, this really is the worst…” he sighed, pulling his shirt back down.

“Well, at least my face is normal, I guess?” he then added, looking back in the mirror, poking his cheek with his skeletal finger, trying to stay positive.

With that, he decided there’d be more time to debate over his current form later. For now, he was mostly grateful the situation had managed to work out with his family about as well as he could have hoped. One less thing to worry about. He made his way out and went back to his room. He set his faithful blanket next to the bed, it’s duty over for now as it awaited it’s wash, before he hopped onto the bed. He’d left his door open slightly, though he still heard a soft knock on it regardless.  
  
“Come in, it’s open," he answered.

His Mamá Elena pushed the door in, carrying a small tray with a plate and a cup on it.  
  
“Ay, I know. I was just being polite," she replied.  
  
“Abuelita?! I thought mamá and papá would-”  
  
“I had them go and eat with the rest of the family. They need some time to come to terms with all of this, and I thought being with the rest of the family would help. I brought you dinner, plenty of leftovers from last night! We didn’t quite get through as much as we thought we would.”

“Sorry…" Miguel winced. He had a feeling that was probably his fault, since his family had spent most of the last night looking for him.  
  
“Nothing to apologize over," she said as she sat the tray down on a small table, and her face became soft.  
  
“Mijo, I’m the one who should apologize. I wouldn’t listen to you, and thanks to that, you went and got yourself into this mess. If I hadn’t smashed your guitar-”  
  
“Then Papá Héctor would have been forgotten, Mamá Coco would never be able to see him again, and De La Cruz would have gotten away with everything," Miguel cut her off. “I’m glad you’re sorry for breaking my guitar, but I would totally do everything last night over again. Plus, I got a new guitar anyways,” he motioned to his Papá Héctorr’s guitar in the corner, with a smile.  
  
“Ummm, I’m actually wondering more how you don’t seem all that, you know, more weirded out by all of this," he motioned to himself.  
  
Mamá Elena chuckled.  
  
“Sometimes being old and superstitious can work in your favor. If I can believe in spirits visiting and musical curses, this isn’t that much of a stretch. Though, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that it breaks my heart to see you like that, my poor mijo," she admitted, he face looking saddened.  
  
“It’s not as bad as it looks though, I mean, I’m otherwise pretty normal...I think. I mean, everything _feels_ normal, and I still get hungry, and-”  
  
“Ay, and here I am yapping and keeping you from dinner!” she exclaimed. “I brought you plenty, so eat up. If you need anything, just holler.”  
  
With that, she gave Miguel a big kiss on his cheek, and left the room.  
  
Miguel just kind of stared after her for a second, slightly stunned. Everyone seemed to be taking this in so many different ways, it was hard to keep up. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and focused instead on the tray his abuela had left him. It was piled high with a variety of foods from the night before, way more than he could ever possibly hope to finish.  
  
“Abuelita ~" he whined to himself, rolling his eyes, before taking his tray and setting it on his bed.

He sat next to it, plate on his lap, drink still on the tray so it wouldn’t spill. At first he was a bit apprehensive about his dinner. Would he even be able to eat normal food like this? He experimented with a nibble, and after succeeding in swallowing it, decided that he was okay. A thought crossed his mind part-way through his meal, wondering if he’d be able to see the food in his stomach if he looked, but he didn’t dare. That was a mystery he was very happy not to answer. He put aside the thought, instead relishing in the peace and quiet, something he found he really did need after everything that had happened. He let his mind focus on his food. For leftovers, they were still quite good, granted, his abuelita _was_ an amazing cook.  
  
When he’d eaten what he could, he set the tray back down on his table, and laid back on his bed to relax.

What a crazy day it had been. He thought about everything he’d been through even within the last twenty-four hours. He’d still been running around the Land of the Dead by this point last night, then there were the crazy events from just that day, and his evening. This would definitely be the absolute craziest Día de Muertos holiday that would happen in his entire life, he was sure about that. He started wondering what his life might be like from here on out. He might be able to hide everything easily enough in these cooler winter months with long sleeves and gloves, but summer was going to be brutal. Would he even still be able to go to school? How long would he have to live like this? That’s assuming he was still there in the morning...  
  
“Uuurgh...I don’t want to think about it," he moaned to himself as he let his arm drop to his side and flop over the edge of the bed. He was mentally and physically drained, but at the same time, too anxious to want to sleep. He still had a lingering feeling of dread over what might await him come sunrise.

His thoughts were interrupted by another knock on his door.  
  
“Mijo, have you finished your dinner?" it was his Mamá Elena again.  
  
“Yeah, come in. Everything’s on the table.” Miguel didn’t bother getting up.  
  
As his abuela walked in, she saw him moping on the bed, put her hands on her hips, and gave a sympathetic sigh. She could understand he was feeling depressed. She looked over at his plate, noticing the uneaten portions.  
  
“Are you sure that’s all you’re eating? You poor thing, you should eat more. You’re nothing but skin and bones,” she said, a sly grin on her face. She’d seen her chance and took it.  
  
Miguel’s face shot up, giving her a mildly annoyed expression that just said ‘ _Really?!_ ’, before he flopped his head back down and gave a chuckle.  
  
“That was a horrible joke, abuelita.”  
  
“Yes, but you laughed,” she smiled back. “Your mamá will be in soon to collect your laundry, so go ahead and get changed for bed before she gets here. We’ll wash your bedding too, while we at it, so we need you up. Come, up, up!” She nudged at him a little, coaxing him off the bed.  
  
“Alright, alright,” Miguel conceded, a playful tone in his voice. It was hard for him to believe he was having a normal interaction with anyone in his family that night. He seriously wondered how his abuela was taking everything so well, despite what she’d said earlier.  
  
In truth, she still felt partially responsible for Migue’s current condition, and if staying strong and handling a skeletal grandson was some way she could make up for it, then she’d be damned if she didn’t help him any way she could. Besides, it wasn’t just guilt that motivated her. She also loved her grandson dearly, and just wanted him to be as happy, even if she’d made missteps in that goal. She left the room with the tray, as Miguel set about rooting through his drawer, shutting the door behind her.

Miguel weighed his options before deciding on a pair of lightweight, but long-sleeved set of pajamas with a print of yellow crescent moons on a blue background. It was cool enough on the early November evenings that he wouldn’t overheat in it, but it would still do well to hide most of himself. He didn’t want to have to have his family deal with seeing more bones than they were ready for. He took his shirt off, doing his absolute best to not look at himself (still remembering what he was thinking about when he was eating dinner), and quickly slid into his pajama top.

As he slipped out of his jeans, he realized it was the first time he’d actually seen his leg bones. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with that right now, and quickly got his pajama pants on. It was then he realized he’d have to relinquish his socks as well. He sighed. Normally he’d be okay with running around the house barefoot, but tonight was not that night.

He went back to his drawers and rooted around again until he found what he’d been looking for, a pair of soft, fluffy slipper-socks. Normally he’d reserve these only for the chilliest of nights, but they were needed tonight. Much like his pants, he slipped off the old socks as quickly as he could, before doing his best to get into the others without focusing too much of the bones of his feet. Although, weirdly enough, they didn’t really seem to bug him as much. Maybe it was because they looked similar to the bones of his hands, which he was becoming quite used to seeing at this point. He realized he probably had some gloves somewhere, but thought that if his family, and himself, was going to get used to this, he may as well at least leave something exposed.  
  
At any rate, he’d successfully changed into his pajamas. He went over to open his door, so they wouldn’t have to knock for him later, and started gathering up the stray articles of clothing he had lying around, throwing them into the basket against the wall that they should have been in the first place.  
  
“Oh, look at you, cleaning your room!” His mother had finally arrived.  
  
“Hey, I _do_ clean it! Kinda...” Miguel tried to defend himself. Outside of the scattered clothes, and a few toys, his room really wasn’t too terrible, but not exactly the vision of tidiness either. His mother just grinned and shook her head.

“Finish putting your dirty clothes in the basket, and I’ll get your bedding. If we’re washing the blanket, we may as well do all of it. It’ll be nice sleeping in a fresh bed.” She went over to start pulling the rest of Miguel’s sheets off his bed, and he did what he was told and put his clothes in the basket.  
  
Despite the seemingly normal interaction between mother and her 12-year-old, there was still a slight sense of tension in the air, as they both silently, awkwardly went about their chores. Miguel finished placing the clothes in the basket, and his mother placed the bedding on top before picking it up.  
  
She had turned around to leave the room when...  
  
“Mamá?” Miguel finally asked, not being able to stand the silence any longer.  
  
“Hmm?” Luisa turned around, looking unfazed, basket in arm.  
  
“Is everything...are you sure you’re...okay? I mean, I’m still kinda freaking you out a little, aren’t I?”, he said, a resigned tinge of sadness in his voice.  
  
Luisa set the basket down before walking back over to her son. She crouched down, and cupped his face in her hand.  
  
“Mijo, I’ll be alright. I’m more worried about you right now. Are you doing okay?”  
  
Miguel nodded.

“More or less. Everything’s still just really weird, and I’m a bit scared about what might happen later, but...for now, I’m alright.”

He wondered if he should voice his concerned about sunrise with his mother or not. He’d hate to worry her any more than he already had, but on the other hand, he’d hate it if he disappeared on them with no explanation and never came back.  
  
His mother straightened up and gave him a reassuring pat on his head.  
  
“We’ll work this out...somehow. Your father and I, and the rest of the family have been talking, trying to come up with something. Don’t worry about school in the meantime. We’ll just say you’re out sick.” She picked up the basket once again, and started to head back out before turning around once again.  
  
“The rest of the family has been calming down now too, so if you’re feeling up to it, you can join everyone in the family room for some television time. Once I finish your laundry, it’ll be getting close to your bedtime.”  
  
“Sí, mamá.” Miguel was fine with that, he was already rather tired. He watched his mother leave with the basket.

As he stepped out of his room, he realized he had one extra stop to make. One he hadn’t been sure if he was going to, but did nonetheless. He had to use the bathroom. Somehow he hadn’t the entire time in the Land of the Dead, but...he wasn’t there anymore. Now he got tired, he got hungry, and...  
  
He gave a resigned sigh before making his way there. It was the most awkward bathroom trip he had ever had in his entire life. At least now he had the assurance that _everything_ was still there and working. He took a moment for his face to stop blushing before he made his way to the family room.  
  
He found everyone gathered around the TV. They were watching some movie, from the looks of it. As usual, the TV was muted, but the captions were on, since the family ban on music even extended to background music on TV shows. Miguel could only guess the transition for the rest of the family back into the world of music was going to be a bit slower. He found his father, along with Tío Berto, sitting on the couch, an empty space to his father’s right, on the end. Probably where his mother had been sitting with him earlier, he guessed.  
  
“Um...papá?” He spoke up quietly.  
  
“Ah, Migue?!” Enrique twisted around, as did the rest of the family when they’d heard Miguel’s voice. It made Miguel feel a tad nervous.

“We weren't expecting to see you out. Are you...feeling a bit better now?”  
  
Miguel nodded. “Yeah, sorry I worried you and mamá. She said I could come watch TV if I felt like. Can I, umm, sit with you?” he asked, nervously fiddling with the bottom of his shirt.  
  
“Of course, mijo.” Enrique said, and he patted on the cushion next to him.

Miguel made his way over, and got up onto the couch, curling up next to his father. He made a point to tuck his hands in as best he could to hide them from view. He noted his family was giving him a few curious glances here and there, but for the most part, they seemed to try and focus on the movie.  
  
It seemed like some period drama of some sort, nothing very interesting to him. Apparently Rosa thought so too, since she was actually reading a book. Either way, he only really wanted to be there for the company. Now that things had calmed down, it felt like just another normal evening in the Rivera household, despite the anything but normal day.  
  
Miguel’s father had wrapped his arm around him, and Miguel felt his eyelids get heavy. In the comfort of his father’s presence, he let the exhaustion of the day overtake him, and he drifted off to sleep.

He awoke slightly when he felt something on his forehead. His parents were taking turns giving him a goodnight kiss, as they tucked him in, his bedsheets now warm and clean. His father must have carried him to bed after he fell asleep on the couch with him. Groggy, he looked up to his parents.  
  
“Ah, sorry to wake you, mijo...you can go back to sleep,” his father smiled down to him.  
  
“We’ll see you in the morning,” his mother added.  
  
Oh, right. Morning.  
  
“Papá, mamá…” Miguel sleepily called. He knew that whatever happened come sunrise, there was at least one thing he wanted to make sure he told them.  
  
“Goodnight, I love you.”

“We love you too. Goodnight,” his parents both replied, and his father gave him a light ruffle of his hair before they gave him one last round of kisses, turned off his light, and let him drift back off to sleep.  
  
Miguel was satisfied with that. No matter what happened from here on out, he could be sure that in both worlds, Living and Dead, his family would be there for him.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hot dang, I did it! This is the end of the first storyline! I hope the longer part 3 made up for the wait. Thanks to everyone who's left comments on this story so far, it really helps encourage and motivate me!
> 
> The scene with Miguel's parents in the ofrenda room gave me SO MUCH TROUBLE (and it was the main reason this chapter took so long). Urgh. Part of it was because I was originally planning on having this chapter be more angsty than it turned out to be, and my muse was not having any of it. So it turned more fluffy. Just as well, I suppose (this IS tagged as hurt/comfort after all). I was just worried it would seem too forced if I made his parents seem like they were getting over all of this too quickly. In the end, I took the "ride or die" approach (which was basically how me and my mom were before she passed). Things may still be a bit awkward at times for a while between Miguel, his parents, and the rest of his family, but dammit, they're trying.
> 
> I also tried for a bit of humor in this chapter. Elena's "skin and bones" joke is an homage to the "Skeleboy AU" comic on Tumblr, which is currently on hiatus, but was a bit motivator for me to finally take a crack at my own spin on a cursed Miguel story. That one is way more silly, and good for a laugh.
> 
> Also, the restroom thing...well, I thought it was hilarious when I was writing it at 3am, and I know someone was gonna ask about that eventually...so there you go. I preemptively answered that question as tastefully (and humorously) as I could manage. Poor Miguel ^^;
> 
> Anyways, while this wraps up the intro story. It actually ends on a semi-decent ending of it's own, but I have plans, and this is hopefully just the first in many more chapters to come.


	4. Moonrise, Pt. 1

_Darkness, lit by the light of countless marigold petals. A faint figure in the distance. Who was it? They were getting closer. Papá Héctor? Papá Héctor!_  
_  
Running. Hugging. So happy. Safe. He’s safe. He’s here._

 _But, this is the Land of the Dead. Shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t… Hands are bones. No. Shouldn’t be here. No..._  
  
_Dizzy. Falling. Papá Héctor, help!_  
  
\------  
  
“WOAH! AHHH!”

Miguel yelled out, waking up to find himself on the floor, tangled in his covers, having rolled off his bed.  
  
“Ugh, bad dream...” He rubbed his face with his blanket, trying to wake himself up before making the effort to untangle himself. It wasn’t long before hurried footsteps could be heard coming up the hall, and his mother ran into his room.  
  
“Mijo, are you alright? What happened?” Luisa looked down at her son on the floor.  
  
“I’m fine. Just a bad dream, I guess, and I fell off the bed. At least it looks like I’m still here,” he said to his mother, who immediately looked confused at the statement.  
  
“Why wouldn’t you be?” she asked, her tone seeming to wonder if she should be worried. She walked over and started helping to untangle her son.  
  
“Nevermind,” he said sheepishly. To be honest, he was just relieved. He had spent so much of yesterday worrying about what would happen to him that morning. The sunlight illuminated the back of his curtains, indicating that it was already well past sunrise. Well, whatever the curse had in store, sending him back to the Land of the Dead that morning didn’t seem to be one of them.  
  
His mother let out a surprised gasp as she managed to free one of his hands.  
  
“Miguel...look!” Her excitement immediately picked up by Miguel, who had also looked down.

“Woah…” His hand. His hand was back to normal. He brought it closer to his face to inspect, almost afraid to believe it was another dream, but the dull aching where he’d hit the floor told him otherwise. He let out a relieved laugh. He scrambled to free himself from the rest of the covers, with his mother’s help.. He check both his hands, looked down his shirt, took his socks off. Normal. Everything was normal. No bones to be seen anywhere.

“It’s gone! It’s all gone! No more curse!” He couldn’t help but throw himself at his mother in a hug. He was ecstatic. His mother returned the hug, happy for her son.

“Thank goodness!” Luisa returned the hug. As she released him, she looked him over, her smile soon marred by a tinge of worry.

“But... will it...come back?” She seemed reluctant to voice her concern, but must have decided it was something they'd have to consider.  
  
‘ _Of course_ ,’ Miguel thought. ‘ _It wasn’t there yesterday morning either._ ’ He realized his mother might have a point.  
  
“Actually, I’m not sure either. I still don’t know what’s going on,” he said with a shrug, then sighed. He had been so happy just a second ago, too. Still, he guessed it wouldn’t be as disappointing if he didn’t get his hopes up too soon.

His mother gave a small smile and patted her son on the head.

“Well, with any luck, maybe we can put all that’s happened these last few days behind us. We’re still having you stay home from school today, just to be on the safe side. Make your bed, get dressed, and come to the kitchen when you’re ready. I’ll make you breakfast.”

With that, his mother gave him a kiss on the forehead, and left the room.

Miguel didn’t have to be told twice. He was more than ready for breakfast.

\-----

Since he didn’t have to worry about wearing his school uniform, Miguel entered the kitchen wearing his green t-shirt with blue trim along with a comfy, well-worn pair of jeans, along with socks and shoes.

“Buenos días”, he said to his mother, Mamá Elena, and two youngest cousins. It took about two second for his abuela to smother him in a suffocating hug. His mother simply shook her head and smiled, before pulling a plate out of the fridge and placing it into the microwave on the other side of the kitchen.

  
“My precious Miguelito! I heard from your mamá! I’m so glad to see you feeling better!” she exclaimed, while Miguel managed to escape from her bosom for a breath once she finally loosened her grip.

“Y-yeah, everything’s back to normal for now,” he said, getting his bearings back after the unexpected hug attack.

“Well, hopefully it will stay that way. Buen dios, you’ve been through enough as it is! Poor thing!” His Mamá Elena consoled him. “Today you’ll get to relax. Well, mostly. If you’re feeling up to it, I wouldn’t mind some help keeping an eye on your little cousins after you finish with breakfast. Your mother was only waiting for you to get up, and now that you are, she’s going to help in the workshop once she’s finished getting your breakfast ready.”

“I don’t mind. They can be fun to play with sometimes.” Miguel figured he could think of something to help keep them occupied.

“You’re such a good boy,” Elena said, giving his cheek a pinch. “We’ll be in the family room. Ah, but before that, you should stop in at the workshop and let the rest of the family how you’re doing! They may not have said it, but everyone was worried about you last night, mijo.”

With one last kiss on his cheek, his Mamá Elena turned and herded the little ones away, leaving Miguel with a small smile on his face, despite the fact that it kind of embarrassed him when she did that. He was glad to see that things were settling down. It was hard to believe last night had even happened. If he was lucky, it wouldn’t happen again.

Miguel looked at the time on the microwave.

“It’s already past nine?! No wonder everyone else is gone.” He would normally have been up quite a bit earlier, especially on a school day. He can’t say he didn’t mind being able to sleep in a little though.

“It’s no wonder, considering everything that happened yesterday. You were exhausted. Your papá said you fell asleep almost as soon as you curled up with him on the couch last night.” She then added with a smile, “It was the cutest thing. Reminded me of when you were little.” His mother pulled the plate out of the microwave before returning to the other side of the room, once again grabbing a few more things from the fridge.

“I was definitely not cute. More like...creepy, or boney. Definitely boney.”

“No, it was definitely cute,” his mother insisted, giving a small chuckle. “You’d bundled yourself up so much, we couldn’t see much of anything outside of your hands, and you’d even tucked those in. You were like a little kitten. It was _adorable_.”

“Mamáááá…” Miguel covered his face in slight embarrassment. To be honest though, Miguel really gave his parents and abuela credit. All things considered, they had handled last night about as well as he could have hoped and then some. At least they’d pulled through in the ‘family supporting you’ department this time.

Luisa finished getting her son’s breakfast ready, and motioned for him to go sit at the table nearby in the open-air dining room, which he did so eagerly. It was just some reheated huevos rancheros she’d made for him in advance that morning, but Miguel wasn’t one to complain.

“Gracias, mamá!” He said, hopping into a chair and scooting it forward, while his mother set down a plate, utensils, and a glass of juice for him.

“De nada, can’t have my poor child not eating his breakfast, now can I?” She said, ruffling his hair. “Once your done, put your dishes in the sink and come see everyone in the workshop, alright?”

Miguel nodded, giving a mumbled reply as his mouth was already stuffed with food. His mother gave an amused smile, shaking her head a bit, before giving him one last pat on the head before she left for the workshop.

\-----

Miguel finished his breakfast, feeling energized and ready to start his day. He set out to see the rest of his family.

He could hear the noises of the workshop before he even reached it, the sounds of sewing machines and tools all clinking and clanking in a mish-mash of rhythms. Pity it was anything but musical.

“Hola!” He said, peeking in, before he walked through the doorway. The usual sounds from the workshop went almost immediately silent, replaced by a chorus of ‘Miguel!’s and ‘Miguelito!’s. His father was up giving him a hug in almost no time.

“Migue! Thank goodness, you’re alright! Your mother told us a bit about this morning when she came in.”

“Ack! You’re squishing me…” Miguel wiggled in his father’s grasp before Enrique loosened up. He couldn’t blame his family for being so enthusiastic though. He was just as relieved as they were.

The rest of his family was in the workshop, save for his cousin Rosa who was in school at the time, and his abuela and the twins.

“We were all worried about you last night,” his Tía Carmen chimed in “We’re sorry if we seemed a bit...well, unsupportive.”

Miguel merely shook his head, indicating for her not to worry.

“It’s alright, I knew it was freaky, and weird, and… I mean, I was scared too, and I’ve seen actual skeletons! Although, it is weirder when you’re the one turning into a skeleton…”

Miguel thought about his first time in the Land of the Dead. The only reason he probably took the whole ordeal better the first time was because it hadn’t happened all at once, and he was preoccupied with more pressing matters. Plus, by last night, it was supposed to have been fixed.

“You know, I should tell you all about that sometime, about everything that happened on Día de Muertos," he said, as he noticed the strange looks his family had given him with his last comment. “I never did get a chance to really explain it well.” Miguel thought his family deserved to know, now that the secret was out on where he’d been anyways. At least he knew they’d believe him at this point.

“Are you going to be okay talking about it?” His mother asked, slightly worried.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” his Papá Franco added.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine!” Miguel smiled and waved a hand dismissively. “I mean, it wasn’t like it was ALL bad! There were some really cool things too! Oh, and I can tell you all about the rest of the family, and Papá Héctor! I’m more worried it’ll freak _everyone else_ out.”

“I’m sure we can manage,” Enrique said, ruffling Miguel’s hair. He was happy to see his son being so energetic and enthusiastic.

“It’ll have to wait until after dinner tonight, but we can gather everyone up, and you can tell us then, okay mijo?”

Meanwhile, Miguel was smiling, despite having to fix his hair.

“Okay then! Well, I told abuelita I’d help her watch the twins, so I’m gonna go. I’ll see you at lunchtime!” And with that, he was out of the workshop.

Berto looked to his brother, Enrique, once Miguel was out of earshot. “You sure he’s going to be alright tonight though?”

“Everything was normal too yesterday until around evening, wasn’t it?” His sister Gloria also chimed in.

Enrique sighed. “We’ll just have to wait and find out. My poor mijo. I hope he’ll be alright.”

\-----

Helping to watch his small cousins, Benny and Manny, wasn’t as bad as Miguel thought it would be. They were easy to amuse with simple things like toys or coloring books, although one had to be careful they didn’t make a mess with the latter. They usually used magic markers since they were easy to wash off of anything that might happen to get accidentally colored on.

At the moment, they were all lying on the floor with a page of a coloring book. Miguel was coloring the picture of a luchador, while he watched Benny and Manny haphazardly double-team a picture of a piñata. The colors and lines were all over the place, but it kind of worked given the subject matter. He couldn’t help but give a small laugh looking at it.

The mix of colors also somewhat reminded him of an alebrije. He couldn’t help but wonder how Dante, his own newly fully-fledged alebrije was doing. Miguel was sure his family on the other side would take good care of him, and he hoped he was getting along well with Pepita. Though, for as ferocious as Pepita could be, she basically was just a big kitty cat for those she liked, and she seemed to like Dante, so he probably didn’t have anything to worry about there either.

“Ah, careful. Don’t color on the floor.” Miguel gently corrected his small cousin’s aim. They tried, at least.

Meanwhile, Elena watched on from the couch, folding laundry while Miguel kept the little ones occupied. Mamá Coco was resting peacefully in her wheelchair nearby.

\-----

The afternoon went peacefully. There was lunch, followed by some playtime with the twins outside in the courtyard. He surprised Rosa once she came home from school around three o’ clock, who hadn’t expected to see him out and about.

“Miguel? You’re alright?!” She hadn’t gotten to see him since the night before, so she was the last one to see that he was back to normal.

“Nice to see you too, Rosa. Yeah, I’m fine. For now anyways.”  
  
“For now?” Rosa asked, as she leaned over to greet her little brothers that had toddled over as well.

“Well, I mean, everything seemed normal yesterday too, right? It’s hard not to worry a little. I think everyone else is thinking the same thing, even if they won’t admit it.”

“Fair enough. Looks like you’re holding up alright for now though.” Rosa said, poking him in the shoulder with a smile, and Miguel playfully batted her hand away with a laugh. “And here you had us all worried last night. I can’t even believe I’d ever see anything like that in my life.”

“Try being in my shoes. I’ll tell you all about it later tonight after dinner. I decided to let the whole family in on everything that happened, now that the secret’s out anyways.”

“I have to admit, I am a bit curious,” Rosa said, placing a hand on her hip. “Anyway, I have some practicing to do in the workshop, so I guess I’ll see you later.” She turned to go before she stopped, and turned back around to Miguel.  
  
“So, you really are dead-set on not ever joining in the family business?” She frowned.

“I mean, I don’t really care much for shoes. I probably _could_ learn, but it definitely wouldn’t be as much fun as music.” Miguel shrugged.  
  
“Well, there’s nothing keeping you from trying both now, you know?” Rosa said, crossing her arms.

Miguel hadn’t really considered that. He really wasn’t interested, but she did have a point.

“Well, what about you? It’s not like you’re going to be a musician,” Miguel retorted.

“I dunno. Who knows? I mean, if you can learn to play something, I bet I could if I wanted. Then I’d be a shoemaker _and_ a musician, and then what?” She gave Miguel a smug smile, like she’d had him there. Miguel couldn’t help but laugh.

“You wouldn’t even know what kind of instrument you’d want to play! I’d have to drag you out to the plaza so you could actually hear them for once. You probably don’t even know their names.” He snickered.  
  
“It’s not like I’ve never heard of them before! I’ve just never really gotten to listen to them, you know up close, but fine! You’re on! We can bring Abel along too, if he’s interested. I want to know what you think’s so good about music that you’d go and get yourself cursed over it.” She verbally jabbed back, as she accepted his challenge.

“Oh, you have no idea. Tomorrow then! It’s Saturday, so we’ll have all day. If my parents let me out of their sight anyway.” Miguel had forgotten that particular snag in his enthusiasm to sass his cousin.

“Guess we’ll see.” With that, Rosa turned and headed for the workshop for real this time.

Miguel just smirked. He wouldn’t have guessed that his cousins might actually share an interest in music. He’d be more than happy to welcome them into that world, sass and all, if it meant getting more of the family to accept it. He could only imagine the shock his family on the other side would probably be in if they came back for the next Día de Muertos to see a full ensemble of Riveras. The thought was amusing, if unlikely. At least he might be able to rope his cousins in. He was curious as to what kind of music or instruments they might find themselves drawn to. He’d have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

\-----

Once the workshop closed for the day, Miguel was let off the hook for babysitting duty. His Tía Carmen thanked him for helping out while she and Berto scooped up their kids to greet them after a hard day’s work. Miguel was free to do whatever he’d liked at that point. He’d decided he’d wanted to go back to his room, to practice his guitar. Before he could leave, he heard his father call for him.

“Migue!”

“Sí, papá?” He turned as Enrique walked up to him.

“With everything that happened yesterday, I forgot I had something important I needed to tell you about that guitar you brought home.”

Miguel looked somewhat nervous. While he’d made a promise that he wouldn’t let anything happen to the guitar, the truth was that if someone came for it, there was actually very little he could do about it, outside of somehow stealing it away and hiding it.  
  
“No need to worry too much, mijo. You should have seen the faces of the police a the station when we went in to report what had happened to that guitar with the picture and your Mamá Coco’s letters. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. To put it in simple terms, they’re allowing us to keep the guitar for now…”  
  
“ALRIGHT!” Miguel pumped his hand in the air, glad to hear some good news.  
  
“”At least until the letters and photo are verified,” Enrique continued. “We’ll hear a final verdict from a judge later. The lawyer I spoke to said that if they’re authentic, and they are, that this is going to have a huge impact here in Santa Cecilia, especially on this...De La Cruz’s reputation.”  
  
“HAHA! AND HE DESERVES IT TOO! That song-stealing, murdering tonto!.” Miguel said, glaring at the ground, his hands in fists.

It almost took Enrique aback to see his son harboring so much hatred towards one person. Granted, he couldn’t blame him. Miguel had idolized this person just two days before, and it had to have been a huge blow to find out someone like that, whom Miguel had also mistaken as family, to turn out to be such a horrible person. Not to mention, he was sure there were other things Miguel had yet to divulge.

“If all goes well, whatever justice we can still get out of this situation will be served. Maybe then at least Héctor can rest a bit easier.”

“It’s _Papá_ Héctor, he’s your family too you know!” Miguel said with an exasperated sigh.

“Ahh, sí. Sorry, it’s taking a bit longer for it to sink in.” Enrique had to admit.

“That’s okay!” Miguel said, letting his father off the hook for now. “Maybe he’ll feel more like family once you get to hear all about him later, when I tell everyone.” He was clearly excited at the prospect.

“Haha, don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten.” Enrique was glad to see his son in good spirits. He was praying it would stay that way.

“You know, I think Papá Héctor actually is already doing pretty well now. At least it looked like it would. I just want to make sure I take good care of his guitar for him til I can put it on the ofrenda for him next year. Oh! If we’re all done, I was gonna go practice. Can I go?”

“Sure, mijo. We’ll call you for dinner if it gets too late.” Enrique mentally noted that either he or Luisa would probably also check in on him at some point before then.

“Okay!” And with that, Miguel was off.

He ran into his room, kicking off his shoes, and grabbing the guitar in the corner before finding a comfortable spot on his bed.

“FINALLY!” He exclaimed, happy to be free to play.

He gave the strings some experimental strums to check the tuning before launching into song. Here, he could get lost in the music, letting any worries slip away for the time being.

\-----

Miguel played until he heard a knock on his door.

“Come in. Ah, mamá, is it dinner time already?” He asked, having lost track of the time.

“Not yet,” Luisa replied. “I just came to see how you were doing.”  
  
Miguel turned to look out of the window he’d eventually opened to let some fresh air and daylight in. The sun had dipped low, once again turning the surroundings orange as it drew closer to sunset. Miguel hadn’t even noticed how late it had already gotten. He closed his window so no passerbys would hear the conversation, and worst case, all he’d have to do was close the curtains if bones started to appear.

“Everything’s still normal so far.” Miguel held up a hand and wiggled his fingers for emphasis. “Guess we’ll see soon if anything weird happens.” He looked nervously out the window. “I hope nothing happens tonight. I really don’t want to deal with that again.”  
  
“I wouldn’t want you to have to either. At least tonight we’d have more of an idea of what is going on, so there wouldn’t be any need to panic.” Luisa gave an awkward smile, still obviously getting used to all this talk of curses and whatnot. Of all the challenges she would have thought she’d encounter when raising a child, this was most definitely not one of them.

“I’ll stay with you in here for a little while if you’d like? I wouldn’t mind hearing you play.”

“Really?! You’ll really listen?!” Miguel said excitedly, and immediately picked up the guitar, clearing a place for him mother to sit down next to him.

He decided to play the music he’d learned from watching his De La Cruz video clips. He knew now they’d all actually been written by Héctor’s, so he didn’t mind playing them, although he tried not to think about Ernesto’s speaking parts that would usually accompany them, focusing strictly on the music.

Luisa watched as Miguel played, rhythmically strumming, with fingers occasionally dancing across the strings in a melody. It was hard to believe he’d learned all this on his own. It had been so long since she had allowed herself to indulge in music. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed it. What her son accomplished, restoring music and a lost Rivera to the family, seemed nothing short of a miracle. Sadly, it had come at quite a cost, even though her son had been more than happy to accept. As she looked on, lovingly, he glanced up, the look on her face making him smile before he finished with a slow flourish of notes.

“That was wonderful, mijo,” his mother said as she clapped her hands.

Miguel was grinning ear to ear, dimple on full display. “You really liked it?!”

Luisa nodded.  
  
“I’m glad! You should tell me some songs you like sometime, and I’ll try to learn them.”

“I might need some time to remember, but I’ll let you know,” she smiled. She then looked out the window, then back to Miguel.  
  
“Mijo, look,” she said, pointing out the window.

Miguel turned to look as well. The orange that had bathed the walls of the buildings outside was replaced by the shade of twilight, as the sun had slipped under the horizon. He looked down to his hands, almost unable to believe it. They were still normal.  
  
He jumped down off the bed, putting the guitar on its makeshift stand, and hopped back onto the bed to look back out the window. It was definitely twilight, the sun nowhere to be seen. He double-checked his hands, his arms, even took off his socks to check his feet.

“No curse!” He gave a relieved laugh. “It’s night time and it didn’t come back! I don’t know how, but maybe it _is_ gone for good?!”

Luisa gave him a sideways hug, since she couldn’t quite maneuver herself to catch her excited son otherwise.

“Let’s hope so! Why don’t we go tell the others the good news!”

\-----

Miguel hadn’t even bothered to put his shoes and socks back on, being too excited to show everyone that he had managed to enter the evening hours uncursed. The family was relieved. It was still a bit awkward, since it’s not every night you hear a child running around about how happy they are to not be a skeleton, but the last two nights had been anything but ordinary for the Riveras anyway. What was one more? Besides, Miguel had plans to regale them all with the wild tale of his Día de Muertos adventure later that evening, so either way it was bound to be anything but normal.

As dinner time came around, Miguel took his usual place near his Mamá Coco. It was blessedly normal, up to and including his Mamá Elena once again trying to add more food to his plate.

“You really will turn into a skeleton if you don’t eat more”. She joked. Miguel groaned and facepalmed, not escaping another skeleton joke at his expense. This opening gave his abuela ample time to place another quesadilla on his plate.

“Hey, no fair!” He half-protested, half-laughed. Luckily, he actually didn’t mind the seconds this time. As he ate, his eyes drifted to the night sky above the dining area roof. The evening was clear and bright, the shining stars dimmed only by the light of the house and the full moon that now hung in the sky. It would have been a nice night to go out and play in the cool, evening air had he not had other plans.

It was almost time for him to finally tell his family what had happened that fateful Día de Muertos.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Weee~! I managed the new chapter before I go on vacation next week! I'm starting to realize it takes me about two weeks to get a new chapter out, despite my best efforts to get them done sooner. I guess I shouldn't complain to much though, twice a month isn't so bad. Better than nothing!
> 
> Anyways, a new storyline starts here, "Moonrise", cause...you know...the moon rises after sundown. Yeah, it's cheesy, lol. The title does also have a bit of relevance too, at least.
> 
> Anyways, Miguel gets a break from being cursed for the time being. There's a special rule at play that juuust happens to take place on this particular date. It works to my advantage though. Not being cursed will make Miguel less shy, and it'll be more fun during the next chapter which is basically going to be "Miguel tells the plot of the movie from his perspective and his family reacts". I was actually going to do that in this chapter, but realized it's better for the story flow if I split it. Now I don't have to worry about keeping it so short if it has a chapter for itself, which means I have more room to play. 
> 
> Meanwhile, part 3, which will be chapter 6, actually wasn't even planned at first, but I ended up adding that bit with Rosa to this chapter, and welp! It kinda turned into that, lol. Works though, since I really will need something to flesh the last part of this storyline out, and it's a perfect set-up. Plus, I dunno about you, but I'm looking forward to the young Riveras' adventures in Mariachi Plaza.
> 
> As always, any comments are much appreciated. Helps me know what kind of things y'all are enjoying, and maybe what I can work on improving. I also love seeing y'all theorize on what happens next. Also, let me know if there are any mistakes, so I can fix them. One improvement I made this time is that there is 100% more correct accented vowels in Héctor's name, and I'll edit the other chapters once I have time.
> 
> Edit: I tried to see if I could finish part 2 before I left for my trip, but I sorely underestimated how long that chapter was going to end up. This thing is a beast. It's already 12 pages in on Google docs (longer than any of the current chapters so far), and it's still maybe only 2/3rds of the way done. Sadly, it'll have to wait til I get back from vacation. On the plus side, a good chunk is already done, so if I'm lucky, I can finish it up at the very beginning of April, and y'all will have a nice, long chapter to read through. See you then!


	5. Moonrise, Pt. 2

Once all of the clean-up from dinner was finished, which Miguel had helped with, everyone gathered into the family room. Miguel took up a spot on the floor in the middle of the room, with the TV turned off behind him. He’d be the source of this evening’s “entertainment.” With him was his Papá Héctor’s guitar. He figured if he was going to tell this story, he’d include the one thing it had both started and ended with. He laid it carefully beside him on the rug.

To Miguel’s left, Enrique and Luisa had taken a spot on a nearby loveseat, while Carmen, Berto, and Gloria had the couch to his front, the former two both holding one of their small twins. Rosa had claimed a small wicker rocking chair next to the couch, usually claimed by Elena when her husband wasn’t joining her. Finally, to his right Abel, Franco, and Elena took a second couch, with Mamá Coco parked in her wheelchair right next to it. The furniture formed a sort of open-sided square around the room, with the TV (or Miguel in this case) at the final side.

Miguel had been psyching himself up for this all afternoon, and now was the moment of truth, in more ways than one. He decided to think of it as a sort of performance in and of itself, which made the prospect a lot more exciting to him.

“Okay, is everyone ready? I’m gonna start now!” Miguel looked around, seeing if everyone was paying attention. He wasn’t sure about Mamá Coco, but he didn’t mind if she was or not. He didn’t expect the small twins to, either.

“Go ahead, Miguelito,” Mamá Elena said.

“Okay, so, this was pretty much the craziest night of my life ever, even more than last night.”

“Guess I’ll start after Mamá Elena smashed my guitar and I ran away.” He noticed Mamá Elena wince slightly at that, but continued.

“I wanted to play in the plaza, but didn’t have a guitar anymore, and no one would lend me one. So I got the idea to borrow the one from De La Cruz’s mausoleum and-- Yeah, I know, I know! It was a bad idea!” he said, putting his hands up defensively when he saw a few of his family members wanting to speak up, but not wanting them to interrupt him.

“I just…really wanted to play.” he said, sheepishly. ”I mean, I thought it’d be okay, cause it had belonged to family, and it was just going to be for that one time...” He picked up the nearby guitar.

“Plus, who wouldn’t want to play a guitar like this? It’s amazing!” He picked up the shining white guitar, the iridescence on the body designs and the neck dancing in the light, and strummed the same chord he’d played that night. It made his family jump a bit, and it took most of Mamá Elena’s restraint not to immediately scold him for it.

“But, as soon as I played it, I got a bad feeling,” Miguel admitted.

“I couldn’t imagine why.” Rosa rolled her eyes.

“Hey, it’s not like I knew what would happen! The only thing I was worried about was that I’d gotten caught! I mean, the groundskeeper came in, and I was like ‘Let me explain!’, but instead he just literally walked right through me!” He pointed to his chest for emphasis.

“No one could see or touch me. I’d go right through them... or they’d go through me. I even ran through Mamá and Papá when they were looking for me. I had no idea what was going on and was freaking out pretty bad.”

“Wait, mijo, you heard us looking for you?!” His mother asked.

Miguel nodded.

His parents seemed a bit taken aback.

“You were right there and we didn’t even know...” Enrique realized.

Miguel shook his head. “There was no way you could have known.”

“But I thought you turned into a skeleton, not a ghost?” his cousin Abel asked.

“And we were able to see and touch you just fine last night,” his father said, also slightly confused.

“That’s just how it was then. I mean, it wasn’t like last night at all.” Miguel shrugged, not really sure on the details himself. He could guess, but he’d bring that up later.

“But anyways, the first time around, only dead people could see me. I didn’t notice them at first, but when I did they were everywhere. I was freaking out, cause I mean...skeletons! Everywhere!” He flung his arms out wide to accentuate the point.

“It was a lot to get used to, though they really weren’t that bad. I mean, they’re still just people. At first though, I was super scared of them. Luckily, Dante found me.”

“Dante?”

“Who’s Dante?”

“That street dog?” Of course his Mamá Elena would remember, considering she threw a chancla at him.

“Oh, that mutt,” his Tío Berto added.

“Yeah, the dog that would hang around sometimes.” Miguel said with a nod.

“He liked me, so I started calling him ‘Dante’, and would feed him sometimes. I felt bad for him. He actually helped me out, cause he could still see me. Thanks to him, I found our family in the graveyard! I was chasing him, and ran RIGHT into Papá Julio. Literally. Bones went everywhere!” He threw his hands into the air with a laugh.

That got surprised reactions from everyone, especially Elena. Then he heard his Mamá Coco’s soft voice.  
“Julio…?” It seemed like Mamá Coco was actually listening too. Miguel couldn’t be sure if she knew exactly what he was talking about, but he chose to reply to her first since she was by far the easiest to talk to.

“Yeah, Mamá Coco, I got to see Papá Julio, just like I got to see your Papá! Anyway, besides Papá Julio, Tía Rosita was there, too, and Tía Victoria...”

“Mi hermana too?” Mamá Elena said, with a nostalgic expression.

Miguel nodded.

“I could recognize everyone from the ofrenda photos. They looked a lot like them, even as skeletons. It helped that they don’t look like normal skeletons. It’s weird, like, they still have hair and eyes and stuff? Makes them look a lot less scary.”

The family just gave each other awkward looks. They’d just have to take Miguel’s word for that until they could see for themselves. This didn’t go unnoticed by Miguel, but he decided to just keep going.

“Err...yeah. Oh, Tíos Oscar and Felipe were there too. Everyone was really surprised that I was there, and like, able to see them and stuff. They wanted to ask Mamá Imelda about it, but she wasn’t there yet, so we went to her instead.”

“That’s when we went to this HUGE orange bridge that just came out of nowhere! But that’s how they cross over on Día de Muertos! I guess it’s kinda like the divide between the Land of the Living and Land of the Dead? The bridge was SO COOL though! It’s actually made out of marigold petals! I know everyone said marigolds guide the spirits on Día de Muertos, but I didn’t think they’d cross on an entire bridge made out of them!”

“So they actually get led over by marigold petals?! Literally?” Rosa seemed shocked that that part was real too. Miguel couldn’t blame her. He’d thought most of that was all made-up stuff too.

“And that didn’t scare you at all?” Tía Carmen asked.

Miguel shrugged.

“A little at first. But I had our family and Dante with me, so it wasn’t so bad. The bridge was pretty cool, the way the petals glowed when you walked on it. You’d think it’d be hard to outdo a giant glowing flower bridge, but about halfway across, the fog on the other side cleared and that’s when I saw the Land of the Dead! The buildings are all built on top of each other in these huge towers, with so many different colors, and there were lights glowing from everywhere! They had trolleys and gondolas and roads twisting all over! There were a ton of other flower bridges too! It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!”

His eyes were wide with excitement as he remembered seeing it all for the first time, the breathtaking image had been practically burned into his memory. Then he realized he probably looked a little too enthusiastic.

“Not that I want to go back anytime soon, don’t worry,” he said with a little laugh.

“Well, I’d hope not,” his Mamá Elena said with a smirk.

“OH! Abuelita, I saw alebrijes too! Real ones!”

“Dios mio, those too?” His Mamá Elena laughed, amused. She had a soft spot for the colorful animal figurines, especially the paper mache ones Miguel had made a few years back in school.

“Yeah! They’re actually spirit guides. I saw all sorts of them on our way to see Mamá Imelda.”

“How long did it take to see her? I wanna know what that was like,” Rosa said impatiently.

Miguel sighed.

“It didn’t take long to find her after that. We went right to the building she was in. I was pretty nervous meeting her. She seemed... kind of scary.” Miguel remembered how nervous he’d been meeting her the first time.

The rest of the family didn’t have much to say to that except Mamá Elena, who chuckled.

“Abuelita was strict, but kind. You only had to worry if you’d gotten in trouble. We all knew that much,” she said. Papá Franco nodded, also knowing that firsthand.

Miguel didn't doubt it. He’d seen what she could do with that boot.

“Heh...well, I was definitely in trouble. First, she found out I’d gotten cursed because of the guitar. Then she found out the reason she couldn’t cross the bridge was because I’d accidentally taken her photo off the ofrenda. Guess I got lucky. She was worried about how to send me home so I could fix everything. That’s when I learned I’d need a family blessing to break the curse, and only had until sunrise otherwise I’d turn into a skeleton and be stuck there.”

“But you didn’t come home ‘til morning. If you just needed one from our family, weren’t they right there?” his mother asked.

“Well, Mamá Imelda was going to give me her blessing right then, but then she told me I could only go home if I never played music again.”

“Ay, Dios mio…” His Mamá Elena already knew that wouldn't end well, as could the rest of the family.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to accept the condition, but did because I didn’t want to be stuck there. It did work at first! I ended up back in De La Cruz’s tomb and everything was back to normal. But, as soon as I tried to grab the guitar and run to the plaza, I was sent back to the Land of the Dead.”

Mamá Elena merely placed her fingers on the bridge of her nose. If there was one thing she knew Miguel had inherited from his great-great-grandmother, it was definitely her stubborn streak. Some of the other family members had facepalmed, and Miguel just heard his mother give a heavy sigh of reluctant acceptance.

“I tried to get her to send me back without it! If she did, I would have come right home. I told her it wasn’t fair, but she didn’t care!” Miguel felt the need to defend himself. “No one else in the family would give me a blessing, either, cause they were too afraid of Mamá Imelda.”

“So I snuck away to look for who I thought was my great-great grandpa, cause I was sure he’d give me his blessing.” Miguel looked mildly annoyed at himself that he’d still ever believed he was related to Ernesto.

“It didn’t take them long to figure out I’d snuck off, so I had to hide. I overheard a skeleton say he knew De La Cruz, so when I got the chance, I asked him for help. Anyway, we decided to help each other, I guess, and we escaped. He told me his name was Héctor…”

Miguel figured he could skip the more embarrassing details of his and his Papá Héctor’s first meeting. That was something they could keep between the two of them.

“Wait…” Enrique started to catch on.

“Oh, no way.” Rosa actually caught on.

“You just happened to have run into your actual great-great-grandfather?!” In the end, it was Tía Carmen who managed to say what everyone else was thinking at that point.

“Yeah, but I didn’t know it was him, because Mamá Imelda never told anybody, otherwise I could have had him give me a blessing right then! But it’s ok, things worked out in the end. Anyways, I’ll just call him ‘Héctor’ for now, so just pretend you don’t know any of that yet.”

His family finally settled down, and he continued.

“So the deal was that he would help me get to De La Cruz, and I’d put his photo he gave me on the ofrenda when I got back, so he could cross the bridge. He didn’t say why he wanted to cross, but I wasn’t really... worried about that at the time.” Miguel admitted guiltily.

“He did help, though. He even used the shoe polish I had with me to make my face look like a calavera, so I could blend in better. With my hood up, I actually looked pretty convincing! Which was good, ‘cause by then everyone was looking for me.”

“None of them noticed?” Rosa asked, sounding slightly incredulous.

“Yeah, I know, I kinda can’t believe it actually worked too, but it did.” Miguel just shrugged.

“Well, pretty sure Frida noticed, but she didn’t say anything. Oh!Yeah! I got to meet Frida Kahlo!” Miguel said excitedly.

That got his family’s attention. Music was banned, but definitely not art.

“Frida Kahlo? The Frida Kahlo?! note

“You met her?!

“What was she like?!”

“How did you even manage that?!”

“Whoa, WHOA! Not all at once!” Miguel said, waving his hands to signal everyone to calm down.

“I met her cause Héctor took me to where De La Cruz was supposed to be rehearsing for his big sunrise concert, so I could meet him. I ran into Frida there on accident while she was rehearsing her opening act. She really likes Xolo dogs, so she really liked Dante, so we kinda hit it off?” Miguel wasn’t really sure how else to explain it.

“She took me over so she could show me her act. I didn’t really get it...but I told her what kind of music she could try using with it at least, and she was really impressed!” Miguel looked proud of himself. It had been the first time someone had ever complimented him on his musical talent.

“Well, it doesn’t take a famous artist to know you’re talented, Miguelito.” His mother said.

“Th-thanks, mamá…” Miguel blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, still not really used to hearing praise from his family about his music just yet.

“B-but anyways...at the end, I thought I’d get to see De La Cruz, but he wasn’t there. He was throwing this big party across town instead. We found out you could get in by winning a talent show, so I managed to convince Héctor to help get a guitar. We got the guitar okay, but…”

Miguel turned somber.

“That’s how I learned what happens when you’re forgotten. Héctor’s friend, the one who gave us his guitar he...he just, he started glowing and then just...disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“Where?”

“No one knows.” Miguel gave the same answer his Papá Héctor had given him.

“That’s...so sad…” Tía Carmen said quietly.

Miguel nodded.

“I didn’t know then, but Héctor was being forgotten too. He almost was. That’s why it was so important that Mamá Coco told us Papá Héctor’s stories. As long as we keep telling them and passing them down, Papá Héctor will be okay. The same goes for everyone. I really learned a lot about how important that is.”

Miguel realized he was starting to get ahead of himself.

“Ah, right, it’s time to tell you about the talent show!” Miguel had been looking forward to this part.

“I was super nervous, because I hadn’t performed in front of anyone before. At first, Héctor wanted to play instead, but I wouldn’t let him cause I wanted to do it. So he gave me some advice. When I got up on the stage, I froze up at first! But then, I remembered what Héctor said and just finally DID it.”

“I-if it’s okay, I’d like to show you…” He was nervous as he picked up the guitar, giving his Mamá Elena a pleading glance.  
Mamá Elena looked at her grandson, who was giving her the biggest puppy-dog eyes he could manage, while their family watched intently. But after all he’d been through, she didn’t have the heart to say no, and gave a resigned sigh.

“Fine.” She agreed, much to the shock of the rest of the Riveras.

Miguel beamed. He’d finally gotten his Mamá Elena’s approval, however reluctant it was.

He gave a loud, happy grito, causing several of his family members to jump in surprise. Both Luisa and Carmen had to reassure their respective spouses that this was a normal thing in music. The only thing that kept Mamá Elena from immediately taking back what she’d said was hearing her Mamá Coco’s laugher as she started clapping. Meanwhile, Benny and Manny had no idea what was going on, but yelled back just because toddlers don’t need much of an excuse to scream.

Miguel grinned sheepishly at the chaos he’d inadvertently caused in the living room, before shrugging it off as he launched into his performance of “Un Poco Loco.” He didn’t think it would be as much fun without Papá Héctor there to dance along and do skeleton tricks, but he was determined to put his heart into the performance all the same. He wouldn’t do anything less after finally being able to play for his family for the first time.

“What color's the sky? ¡Ay mi amor, ay mi amor!”

Miguel danced and twirled around the room as he sang. His mother started clapping along, thoroughly enjoying it, with Carmen and his cousins following soon after. Mamá Coco had the biggest smile on her face, clapping along, if a bit slowly. Miguel made a point to stop and sing close in front of her for a moment, and she laughed happily.

“You make me un poco loco. Un poquititito loco...”

Meanwhile, the other Riveras just stared in awe at what was actually happening. For the Rivera family, Miguel being allowed to play once for his Mamá Coco was a small miracle, so for him to be allowed to play unbridled in the middle of the Rivera living room was akin to hell finally freezing over.

“Un poquititititititititititititito locoooooo~”

Miguel ended his performance with one last grito, holding up his hands and the guitar, breathing hard. Seeing the looks of amazement on his family’s faces gave him a sense of joy and achievement. Half of them applauded immediately. The others took a second for things to register, but they also gave Miguel a round of applause, even Mamá Elena, who looked conflicted between being impressed and watching the music ban all but finally dissolved in front of her eyes.

“Mijo, that was amazing!” His mother said as the noise died down, beaming at him. She motioned Miguel over, and pulled him into a hug from where she sat, almost drawing him onto her lap. She then turned to Enrique. “Wasn’t it amazing, mi amor?”

“That was...definitely something,” his father said, looking like he was still not quite sure how to process it but impressed all the same, as he gently ruffled Miguel’s hair.

Miguel knew there was quite a difference between the prior performance of a soft lullaby he had sung to Mamá Coco to the raucous, upbeat song he had expertly performed right in the middle of their living room. A place that had been devoid of music for almost a lifetime. He expected it’d take some getting used to, but he hoped someday they could come to enjoy it as much as he did.

Then a soft voice was heard from the other side of the room.

“Papá...he wrote that song...for mamá,” Mamá Coco said, a nostalgic smile on her face.

“Really? For Mamá Imelda?” Miguel turned to look at her. Then he thought about it and stifled a laugh. “Yeah, I can totally see why.”

Mamá Elena cleared her throat, causing Miguel to jump slightly.

“Ah, hehe...thanks for letting me play, abuelita. Did...did you like it?” He asked as he clung to the neck of the guitar with both hands, practically shielding himself with it.

“I don’t know how I’ll ever live that down to Mamá Imelda. I held that music ban up for over 70 years, and now it looks like it’s all crashing down thanks to one stubborn boy.” She sighed, before she smirked at Miguel. She didn’t admit she had liked the song, but she didn’t deny it either.

“Ah, don’t worry. I don’t think Mamá Imelda would mind so much now. Oh! That’s right, the story!” Miguel finally remembered he had a point to all that music-playing. He set down the guitar before he continued.

“I actually got to perform that song with Papá Héctor after all. Dante pulled him onto the stage about halfway through. He was great! He danced, and did all these great tricks like juggling his head, you know, stuff only a skeleton could do. I wish you could have seen it. It was so much fun, and the audience loved it too!”

“Héctor even told me he was proud of me…” He remembered that well. The memory made even more precious now that he knew Héctor was his actual great-great-grandfather.

“We couldn’t stay though, because Mamá Imelda and the rest of our dead family had followed me all the way there. I tried to leave, but then Héctor found out I had other family looking for me, and that they could have given me a blessing to go home instead. Earlier I had told him I only had De la Cruz, otherwise he wouldn’t have helped me. Although it wasn’t like he hadn’t lied about some stuff, too. I couldn’t go back to my family, because they wouldn’t understand. I needed to get a musician’s blessing, so I ran.”

“Then Mamá Imelda caught up to me, riding this HUGE winged jaguar with REALLY big teeth!” Miguel held his hands to mimic a mouth and teeth. “It was really scary, but later I found out it was her alibrije, Pepita.”

“That was the name of abuelita’s cat from when Coco was young, if I recall correctly.” Mamá Elena said.

“Really?” Miguel wondered if that cat and the alebrije were one and the same.

“Anyway, they were chasing me, so I ran where Pepita couldn’t follow. Mamá Imelda followed on foot, but I slipped through a gate and kept running. But then she started singing!”

That got a murmur of shock from the family.

“What?”

“No way…”

“Abuelita sang?!” Mamá Elena was probably the most shocked.

“I know right?!” Miguel agreed. “I was surprised too, so I stopped running. She said she used to love music, before everything happened. She wanted me to choose either music or family...but I didn’t want to pick a side. It’s not like I was planning on leaving the family for music, at least I didn’t want to, but no one would support me and I knew she wouldn’t give me a blessing without conditions... so I kept running...”

Everyone had a bit of a somber expression then, except his mother, who was looking angry. It was obvious the family had been projecting their fears of what had happened in the past onto Miguel, not even willing to give music a chance even after five generations, all the while oblivious to the real reasons Héctor had never made it home.

“I’d like to give this Mamá Imelda a piece of my mind for not sending my son home over some stupid... It should have been obvious my son was more important!” hims mom fumed, and Miguel was taken aback, not sure if he’d ever seen his mother so angry.

“M-mi amor.” Enrique tried to calm her, but Miguel did a much better job.

“Ah, it’s okay! I mean, it turned out okay for everyone in the end, so don’t be mad at her, please?” Miguel said, as he made a gesture for her to calm down.

“How is any of this alright?! Did she even give you the proper blessing you needed?!” Unfortunately, Luisa had other things on her mind.

“That wasn’t her fault! I’ll explain everything I can, I promise. Just let me finish.”

“Mi amor, Miguel’s right. Just remember everything’s alright now.” Enrique did his best to calm his wife.

“Fine.” Luisa gave an aggravated huff, before relenting. It wasn’t actually fine, but she’d hold off for now, if only to let Miguel finish.

Meanwhile, Miguel was starting to realize where he’d picked up that type of response from.

“Alright, so like I was saying...” Miguel continued, somewhat worrying what would happen when he hit the part of the story he knew they actually would get angry about.

“I snuck into De La Cruz’s party. I had some help from the winners of the talent show. They’d really liked my performance, so they helped me out. They were really nice, and great musicians too!” Miguel had really enjoyed the short time he’d gotten to spend chatting with them.

“Once I got in, the hard part was getting De la Cruz’s attention, so I started to sing! Everyone got really quiet to listen, and it actually worked! Well, sort of. I...kinda wasn’t paying attention and slipped into this big pool that was in the middle of the room.” He was a bit embarrassed to admit it.

He heard his cousins snicker a bit at his expense. Whatever. He wouldn’t make a fuss over it.

“Well, I mean, that got his attention too. He actually jumped into the pool and pulled me out himself.”

Thinking back, it was kind of ironic that the person who saved him eventually tried murdering him. Twice.

“My disguise got washed off, so everyone was surprised to see the living kid everyone had been looking for was there, but I told him…” Miguel was loathe to repeat the next part.

“I told him I was there cause I was his great-great-grandson.” Miguel felt disgusted saying those words.

“He believed me.” Miguel was eager to get through that part as quickly as possible.

“I spent a lot of time with him at the party. Actually, the party wasn’t so bad. I got to meet a ton of famous people. Like...a TON. Also got to ride a skeleton horse, and that was pretty cool.” Miguel had to at least admit that much.

“He even invited me to go to his big concert at sunrise, but it was starting to get late. As it was, I was probably like...three-quarters skeleton. Still not as bad as last night, but getting there. De La Cruz tried to give me a blessing to send me home, but then Héctor popped in out of nowhere. He’d managed to sneak in too.”

“At first, he seemed mad at me for breaking our promise, but he just asked me to put up his photo again. That’s when De La Cruz took Héctor’s photo and recognized him, and I realized they actually had known each other. That’s when I learned about Héctor’s songs being stolen, but that wasn’t the worst of it”.

At this point, the family was silent in the suspense of the moment. Especially considering Miguel’s voice was starting to waver.

“While Héctor and De La Cruz were arguing, Héctor said something I recognized from “El Camino A Casa”, a De La Cruz movie. It was during a toast where the bad guy tries to poison the main character. Héctor...Héctor realized that the night he tried to leave De La Cruz to come home...that he was poisoned. That...that… monster murdered him for his guitar and songs!”

Miguel’s fists were clenched, and he was shaking in anger. He had wanted to use some stronger language to insult him, but knew his parents wouldn’t approve. He didn’t have to though. While most of them merely remained reverently silent, Miguel was sure he heard his Tío Berto and Mamá Elena, of all people, muttering curses under their breath. They were rightfully angry, given how Héctor’s murder had hurt their family.

“Héctor tried to attack De La Cruz, no surprise there, but then he got dragged away by his security. By then, De La Cruz was more worried about his stupid reputation, and instead of trying to give me a blessing, he had me dragged off too. They threw me and Héctor into a cenote...”

Miguel shuddered at the memory. The revelation of having been treated in such a way had his family in an uproar, as everyone shouted various insults. Enrique and Berto in particular didn’t bother cursing under their breath this time. Luisa had her hands over her mouth, her eyes tearing up not with sadness, but rage. Miguel could only imagine she was trying to spare him whatever various obscenities she was thinking of at the moment. He knew for sure pretty much all of his family would have gladly tried to kill Ernesto a second time if they could for daring to harm him.

He had to wait a bit for them to calm down, but knew this wasn’t going to be the last time things would get out of hand. He’d just have to word things carefully. The next part wasn’t going to be easy either, and he frowned.

“For what it’s worth, I fell in the water so that broke my fall. I was just a bit cold and wet. I was mostly worried I wasn’t going to get out in time to get any sort of blessing. If I had stayed there until morning, I would have died. I was upset that I said all those horrible things to you, when we last talked, and…”

That reminded him. He turned to his Mamá Elena.

“I’m sorry I said I didn’t care that I was on the ofrenda. I know how important it is now,” Miguel said sheepishly, holding his arm with his other hand. He finally remembered to apologize.

Mamá Elena just shook her head. “I’m sorry I upset you to where you said those things in the first place, mijo. We all learned a thing or two that night.” She gave a small smile, and Miguel returned it before frowning again.

“I heard clattering, and that’s when I saw they’d thrown Héctor into the same cenote. While I was with him he started glowing like his friend had earlier, and fell over. He was being forgotten, and that meant he was going to disappear soon. He told me then why he’d wanted to cross the bridge, and I realized then he was probably my actual great-great-grandpa. I showed him the photo, and he recognized Mamá Imelda and Coco, It was like he had seen a ghost. That’s how we found out we were family”.

Miguel looked around, the looks on his family’s face bittersweet.

“Papá Héctor had tried so, SO hard to come home. He just wanted to see Coco one more time, but he never could because no one put up his picture.” Miguel’s voice wavered a bit.

“He told me then about how he’d written “Remember Me” for Mamá Coco, as her lullaby for when she was a little girl. He sang it to me. That’s how I learned how it was supposed to be sung. He thought I’d be upset that he didn’t write that song to become famous, but I was just happy that I finally knew why I loved music so much. I was happy we were family.”

Miguel couldn’t help but feel sentimental. Despite being trapped in the cenote at the time, he remembered that particular bit fondly.

“Of course, I was still in trouble. Héctor couldn’t give me a blessing because we didn’t have a marigold petal. It was just something you needed to give a true blessing I think I forgot to mention that. Luckily, Dante led Pepita and Mamá Imelda to us, so we were saved!”

“That dumb dog actually made himself useful.” Mamá Elena sounded surprised.

“Hey, give Dante some credit! Once me and Papá Héctor got rescued I realized Dante was a spirit guide, and he turned into an alebrije! He even got little wings to fly with!” Miguel was happy for his doggy buddy.

“Wait, an alebrije? Seriously?” Rosa asked, and Miguel could have sworn he heard a hint of envy mixed in with the disbelief in her voice, causing him to grin even more.

“That’s why I haven’t seen that mutt hanging around lately?” Tío Berto asked gruffly.

“Yep. I mean, I guess alebrije stay in the Land of the Dead? So he’s probably with our family over there now.”

Then Miguel realized he was getting off-track again.

“Oh, right, the family...Mamá Imelda rescued us both, but she was still mad at Papá Héctor, even after I told her about how he was murdered. I didn’t want Papá Héctor to be forgotten, so I agreed that if she helped me get his photo back, I’d go home with to the conditions to not play music again. Mamá Imelda agreed, so then we just had to figure out how to get the photo.

“I had an idea and went to Frida Kahlo for help. She snuck us into the concert as dancers for her performance. We made it backstage and looked for De La Cruz, and then Mamá Imelda ran right into him! We stopped and hung back, so he didn’t see all of us at once. The next thing I hear is the sound of a boot smacking De La Cruz- twice. Hehe. Once for murdering Papá Héctor, and once for trying to murder me.”

Miguel was having quite a bit of fun remembering that particular bit.

“Then the coward ran off, so we chased him backstage. We ended up having to fight through his security. It was wild! I wouldn’t have thought our family would be that good at fighting, but everyone was just really cool!”

“Hah! Of course. You don’t mess with the Riveras!” Elena said with pride. Miguel eagerly nodded in agreement.

“Mamá Imelda eventually got the photo, but then she accidentally ended up on stage! She didn’t know what to do, so I told her to sing as a distraction while she got the photo to us. You should have seen the look on everyone’s faces when she started singing “La Llorona,”” Miguel said, clearly amused.

“I got Papá Héctor to play along on the guitar, and then the orchestra started in, and it was really amazing! Mamá Imelda sings so well, I wish you all could have heard it!”

The rest of the family looked rather stunned. It was hard for them to grasp the concept of their music-banning matriarch singing, and they weren’t really sure how to respond to that.

“Halfway through, De La Cruz went up on stage and grabbed her, and forced her to dance with him. He grabbed the photo away, but at the very end Mamá Imelda stomped on his foot, grabbed the photo, and ran back to Papá Héctor. She jumped right at him! She definitely didn’t look mad at him anymore. They were starting to get all mushy. I kind of had to remind them I still needed my blessing.” Miguel smirked.

“So...you’re telling me that not only did my abuelita sing, but she forgave that musico that abandoned her all those years ago? In less than a few hours?” Mamá Elena had her fingers to the bridge of her nose. She was definitely having the hardest time wrapping her head around it all.

“I dunno, adult stuff is complicated.” Miguel could only shrug. “I think Mamá Imelda did feel bad that Papá Héctor was nearly forgotten though, when what happened wasn’t entirely his fault, and forgave him at least a little bit. I wish I could have seen how things turned out, but I needed to get home.”

“Mamá Imelda was giving me her blessing, and she even dropped the no music condition! But, right when I was about to take the petal, De La Cruz came out of nowhere and grabbed me.” Miguel spat he last part angrily, with clenched fists.

“He was worried about how I’d ruin his reputation or whatever cause I knew what happened, and he came after me.” His voice was tinged with anxiety as he recalled the next events.

“No one could do anything because they were afraid he’d hurt me. Dante flew in and tried to drag me away from him, but even he couldn’t do much. De La cruz grabbed me and...tossed me over the edge of the building.”

Miguel held his arms close to his chest during the last part, trying hard not to think about how terrified he’d been or how close of a call it was. Luckily the outrage of his family was a wonderful distraction. Miguel didn’t think he’d ever heard such colorful language from his Mamá Elena, although he fully expected it from his Tío Berto. His parents had both gotten up to give him a comforting hug, for Miguel as much as themselves after finding out just how close they really were to losing him that night.

“Ah, thanks mamá...papá...I’ll be alright.” He was thankful for the hug, but he also didn’t want to worry his parents anymore than he already had. “I mean, I made it back in one piece, so obviously everything turned out okay,” he said reassuringly.

“I mean, Dante tried to rescue me again and, when that didn’t work, Pepita caught me at the last second, so I was fine...I just...I lost Héctor’s photo during the fall.” Miguel turned somber again.

“Papá Héctor had run out of time...he was glowing more and more, and couldn’t even stand. He could barely move. I wanted to try and find the photo so he wouldn’t be forgotten, but then the sun started to rise. I...I just wanted to make sure he was okay, but it just looked so bad. Both of them offered their blessings with no conditions, but...I couldn’t really think of anything other than him right then.”

“The next thing I knew, Mamá Imelda touched me with the petal, everything swirled around me, and I was sent back to the Land of the Living. I was in De La Cruz’s tomb and I wasn’t a skeleton anymore, so I figured everything had worked out okay.”

“That’s debatable, considering last night,” his Tía Gloria said sharply. Others nodded in agreement.

“I dunno what exactly went wrong there, but I seem okay now. Maybe the blessing didn’t quite work right at first because I cut it so close?” Miguel shrugged. It was his best guess.

“It all worked out in the end. Papá Héctor’s wasn’t forgotten, and he’ll even be able to visit next Día de Muertos!”

Miguel couldn’t hide his excitement at that prospect. He already knew the things he’d be putting on the ofrenda for him.

“But...how do you know you, well...made it in time?” His cousin Abel couldn’t help but ask. That seemed to take the wind out of Miguel’s sails ever so slightly, and Abel seemed to regret asking that almost immediately.

“Well, I don’t know for sure, but...I dunno...I just have a really good feeling about it?”

“I hope you’re right...no, I’m sure you’re right,” Tía Carmen nodded, before shooting a glare at her eldest son to not dare ask anymore questions like that, to which Abel immediately cowered. Miguel couldn’t help but chuckle to himself a little.

“So! That’s the end!” Miguel finished, clapping his hands together. “Like I said, it was a crazy adventure, right?”

“That’s an understatement,” Papá Franco said.

“If I hadn’t seen what I had last night, I’d think you were either pulling our leg, or completely loco,” Tío Berto bluntly confirmed.

“Part of me is still having trouble believing it, even if I know it’s true,” his Tía Gloria admitted.

Miguel let out a laugh at that. “Well, I don’t blame you. That’s why I’d been planning on keeping it all a secret. I only told everyone because of what happened yesterday.”

“But mijo, I’m glad you could share all this with us,” His mother said as she stroked the back of his head. “If you ever need anyone to talk to about any of this, I’ll be sure to listen, okay?”

“Right, we’re here for you, no matter what.” His father patted Miguel on the shoulder. He was a little more awkward about it, still having a hard time wrapping his head around everything. Especially where his great-grandparents were concerned, having lived with the music ban Imelda had put in place his entire life, only hearing stories passed down about how horrible her mystery husband had been. Enrique was sure his other siblings and his mother probably felt similarly.

Mamá Elena stood up, and clapped a bit to get everyone’s attention.

“Aye, it’s all a lot to take in at once. Why don’t we take some time to relax. I know just the thing!”

\-----

Miguel was ecstatic to find out that his Mamá Elena had made a surprise tres leches cake for dessert. He was happily munching away on it, sitting on a beanbag chair on the floor between where his mamá and papá sat on the loveseat. It wasn’t often they ate in the living room, but tonight seemed to have ended up being a sort of special occasion.

“Abuelita’s Tres Leches is the best!” Miguel grinned, having finished his cake. He placed his empty plate on a tray Mamá Elena had set out on a nearby end table, with the plates from the others who’d also finished.

Mamá Elena smiled at him, while she helped Mamá Coco with her cake.

“Should we turn the TV on?” Berto suggested, having nothing better to do since storytime was over.

They set the channel to watch a movie. Sound off, as usual. Rosa seemed annoyed by this.

“Can’t we watch it with the sound on for once?” she asked, crossing her arms.

Everyone went silent as they stared at her, including Miguel who couldn’t believe she’d be the one to ask instead of him.

“Well, it just seems silly to keep up the music ban. We just watched Miguel sing and dance around the living room less than an hour ago. I mean, if the person who made the rule isn’t even following it anymore, it seems kind of silly to keep it now.” Rosa spoke matter-of-factly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Then Miguel noticed everyone’s gaze shift to him as if he had somehow caused this. Well, they weren’t necessarily wrong, but still…

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t ask to her to ask that! She probably just wants to know so she can try whatever scheme it is she’s up to tomorrow to prove me wrong or whatever!”

“And what kind of scheme might that be?” Mamá Elena asked, now standing up with her hands on her hips, eyeing her two grandchildren suspiciously.

“I want to prove to Miguel that it’s possible to be a shoemaker and a musician at the same time, so he won’t have anymore excuses to get out of helping in the workshop!” Rosa declared triumphantly while Miguel just facepalmed.

“You just don’t want to admit you were interested in music this whole time, don’t you?” Miguel retorted.

“I at least respected the music ban anyway, unlike you!”

“Well, I was the one who managed to reunite the family in the Land of the Dead thanks to ignoring it!”

“Ay, ay! Quit arguing you two,” Mamá Elena scolded them while brandishing her chancla, causing the two of them to freeze, before she gave a heavy sigh and lowered her dreaded weapon.

“If I said no, I’m sure you two would go do whatever you wanted anyway. I already know Miguel has been playing that guitar ever since he got back,” she said, defeated. “I suppose Miguel has earned it. We’ll allow music.”

Miguel jumped and cheered, and let out a grito. Rosa was a little more reserved, but did pump a fist into the air, while her brother looked a bit confused, but happy. Luisa and Carmen, meanwhile, both smiled at their spouses, seemingly excited to finally be able to share what they had given up all those years before. Even Franco got up slowly, and gave his wife Elena a kiss on her cheek, though that might have been more to comfort her in her decision more than anything, having gone most of his lifetime without music at that point. Elena couldn’t help but give him a smile.

Mamá Elena wasn’t sure if what she was doing was really the right thing, but if Miguel’s story was true, and she trusted her little Miguelito that it was, then this was just another step in repairing a long-standing injustice to the family, bringing them all, living and dead, back together one way or another. In this case, through the music that was revealed to be as intrinsically entwined to the Rivera bloodline as shoemaking.

“Gracias, abuelita!” Miguel said as he hugged her.

“De nada, Miguel. Just remember, no matter what, your family will be here for you now,” Mamá Elena said as she hugged him back in return.

“I won’t! I promise! I’d never forget my family.”

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anything, a MASSIVE shout-out and thank you to PaperGardener who gave me tips on how to edit this beast, as well as doing beta-reading and suggestions on how to make this chapter even better. She was an absolute god-send. She also has some Coco fics up here on AO3, so you should definitely check those out (I'm personally quite fond of her "Life After Death" fic).
> 
> Anyways, here's to a ch. 5 I am finally happy, if not also exhausted, with. This will hopefully be the first and last time I ever completely redo a chapter after posting it. Either way, lessons were learned, and hopefully this newbie writer will be all the better for the experience. Thank you all for being patient with me, and I hope I can continue to write a fic that both myself and y'all can be happy with.
> 
> Now to get to work on Ch. 6... Plaza shenanigans aside, Miguel's been getting off easy in this fic for two chapters. I'd say it's about time to get that curse thing kicked back into gear. >:‑)


	6. Moonrise Pt. 3

“Finally! Mariachi Plaza, here I come!” Miguel was practically bouncing out the gate of the home complex.

Meanwhile, his older cousins followed behind more casually. Rosa shook her head and rolled her eyes, and Abel laughed, even though they both couldn’t help but smile at Miguel’s enthusiasm. Of course, Miguel had been too preoccupied to notice.

“So, you think anyone will be out playing this time of the day?” Rosa asked, trying to slow her over-enthusiastic cousin down.

“Hmmm…” Miguel turned around and paused to think. They had spent the morning doing their chores, and then had lunch, before being let out to play, so it was already after noon. “Probably? I mean, it’s not called Mariachi Plaza for nothing. There’s usually at least someone playing, even if it it’s just for fun. That’s why it was always banned ‘til now.” Miguel spun back around, a hop once again in his step. “I can’t believe we’re going to be allowed to spend the whole day there!”

Miguel had planned accordingly for a day out in the sun, wearing a tanktop with a pair of shorts. He didn’t expect it to get too warm, but he didn’t want to risk the weather putting any sort of damper on his fun either.

“It is nice, I’ll admit. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve had to turn down my friends’ invitations to hang out because they were going to be in the plaza.” Rosa complained. She’d decided to wear a simple, light pink sundress. Cute and practical.

“Or futbol celebrations.” Abel added, wearing his favorite combo of jeans and a futbol jersey.

Miguel looked over his shoulder with a frown. “So that’s why you two really wanted to go to the plaza?”

Rosa shrugged. “The music is mainly a bonus. I wasn’t lying when I said I was interested. You don’t go through secondary school without hearing about the latest music craze, and it’s awkward to explain why you’ve never heard of it before.”

“Ah, we’re here!” Miguel announced, not that he needed to. The plaza had been in plain view as they’d walked down the final street. He scanned the surroundings, and sure enough, there seemed to be a gaggle of street performers in the gazebo at the center of the plaza. It was the prime spot, and fair game to anyone who could claim it when it wasn’t being used for official functions.

“Come on!” Miguel motioned to his cousins, who followed. Rosa and Abel took a bit more time to soak in the atmosphere. They’d seen the plaza before, they had to cut through it to get to the graveyard and several main buildings in town, but they’d always passed on the outskirts when possible and tried not let their eyes wander too much. But even more than the sights, it was the sounds that took their attention most of all. For once, they could actually stop and listen.

“Alright, looks like we got lucky today, there’s someone playing already. Come on, let’s go!” Miguel motioned the other two, and ran ahead. He didn’t take notice of two boys off to the side of the plaza, but they noticed him.

“No way...is that Miguel?!” The first boy asked, sounding slightly concerned.

“Wouldn’t be the first time he’s snuck out here.” A second, taller boy stated, sounding slightly amused.

“Yeah, but...woah, those are his cousins too! What’re they doing out here?!”

“Time to go find out, come on!” The taller boy motioned for the other to follow, running over to Miguel before calling out.

“Oi! Miguel!”

“Huh?!” Miguel jumped, and looked around, obviously not expecting anyone he knew to be there, before he spotted the two boys his own age looking back and waving at him.

“Oh! Nacho, Marco, hola!” Miguel said with an excited wave.

Miguel often saw and would hang out with Ignacio, “Nacho” for short, since he lived closeby. His family sold the pastries Miguel was so fond of buying with his shoe-shining money. Ignacio was a bit on the timid side, but kind-hearted, and Miguel appreciated that he would still visit him at his house to play, while obeying the music ban while there. Miguel didn’t really have many friends to speak of, and Ignacio was the only one who hadn’t been scared off by Mamá Elena.

“Oh, hey Nacho,” Rosa also greeted him casually. “That another friend of yours?” She motioned to the other boy.

“Oh, yeah. This is Marco.” Ignacio said, introducing him

“We’re all friends from school.” Miguel added.

Miguel had met Marco through Ignacio, quickly becoming friends over their mutual love of all things music. Marco’s family ran the local instrument shop, and his parents taught lessons as well. Needless to say, he’d had to keep his friendship with Marco lowkey since he knew his family wouldn’t have approved. Nevertheless, since they were classmates, it wasn’t hard to interact with him at school. Marco took delight in helping Miguel after finding out about his family’s music ban, being responsible for some of Miguel’s smuggled De La Cruz collection and decent strings for his homemade guitar. Marco would also give Miguel tips on playing guitar from time to time, helping him where simply watching videos could not.

“Nice to meet you. Nacho here tell me you’re Miguel’s cousins?” Marco thumbed back at Ignacio.

“Yeah, I’m Rosa.”

“I’m Abel”

Marco nodded in acknowledgement before playfully elbowing Miguel in the ribs. “Anyway, out in the open in the plaza, huh? You’re turning your cousins into as much of a delinquent as you are! I’m impressed!” Marco said, very obviously approving of the whole thing.

“Hey! I’m out here with permission today, thank you very much!” Miguel retorted with a playful punch back.

“It’s not nice to lie to your amigo!” Marco said, retaliating with a noogie.

Meanwhile, poor Nacho was just trying to get both of them to settle down.

“Guys, don’t fight, seriously!”

“We’re not fighting. I’m just punishing our Miguelito here for trying to tell us a bold-faced lie right to our faces”. Marco said, as Miguel made a half-hearted attempt to escape out of the loose headlock Marco had put him in.

“Ow! Hey, I’m not lying. Really! A lot happened in the last few days ago, okay? Ask my cousins!” Miguel protested.

“He’s right.” Abel confirmed.

“I’m guessing you were referring to our family’s music ban earlier? It was lifted as of last night. Our family knows we’re out here.” Rosa explained further.

“Wait, seriously?!” Marco let go of Miguel in shock. “Miguel told me that was like...a four generation ban or something. Miguel couldn’t even step foot near my house!”

Miguel rubbed his neck. “Five generations, and it’s a long story. It was thanks to some stuff we found out this past Día de Muertos”.

“Woah. Good for you!” Nacho congratulated them.

“So, does it have something to do with you disappearing all that night?” Marco asked with a smirk.

“...Wait, how do you even know about that? Weren’t you out of town?” Miguel wondered. He hadn’t been to school the day before to even tell Marco about it, and he definitely couldn’t tell anyone outside of his family the truth about what had actually happened.

“Oh, Nacho told me about it when I got back.” Marco thumbed behind him to where Ignacio was fidgeting with his hands.

“Umm...sorry.” Ignacio nervously looked away for a moment, fidgeting with this hands. “I just...Marco asked why you weren’t at school yesterday, and I told him how I overheard your family looking for you on Día de Muertos. When I went to ask what happened, they’d told me you’d gotten upset and run away, but they didn’t say why...just to let them know if I saw you.”

“To be fair, probably half the town knew we were looking for you,” Rosa interjected to Miguel, “so it’s not really that big of a secret that you took off”.

That caused Miguel to groan slightly. He hadn’t meant to inconvenience so many people, especially knowing there would have been no way to find him that night.

“I was worried about you!” Ignacio continued. “I asked your papá when I saw him the day after to see if you’d made it home okay. I was so relieved when they told me you were okay, and you just had to rest. I thought maybe you’d just gotten sick or something when you didn’t come to school, since you’d been out all night. I’m just glad you’re okay”.

“Ah, sorry...about that.” Miguel said, a bit embarrassed. He wasn’t used to having people outside of his family fretting about him, even if Ignacio tended to be a bit on the anxious side.

“Ok, but what happened?! I need to know!” Marco jumped right back into it, making Miguel and Ignacio jump a little in surprise.

“Ah! Geez, calm down a little. I...errr… I can’t really talk about it.” Miguel admitted.

“What? Why not?” Whined Marco, disappointed. “Come on, you can tell your amigos, right?”

“Sorry, it’s currently information privy to Rivera family only,” Rosa said with a smirk, coming in to Miguel’s rescue. “By the way...” she added, changing the subject, “You mentioned Miguel couldn’t go near your house. Why is that?”

“Oh, because my family owns the music shop!” Marco said, proudly.

“Guess that would do it.” Rosa said matter-of-factly.

Abel nodded in agreement.

“We could come over later though!” Miguel finally realized, excitedly. “Well, maybe not today, but later. Today, I promised my cousins I’d show them around the plaza and teach them all about music.”

“Oh, that sound nice!” Ignacio lit up, “I have an idea! Marco, why don’t we help out? You know a ton about music that even Miguel might not know about...errr...no offense, Miguel.” Ignacio winced slightly.

Miguel just laughed it off. “Nah, you’re probably right. Hard to compete with someone who grew up around it.”

“True enough. Well, I don’t have anything better to do right now, so sure, let’s do it. I’ll be your tour guide for this musical expedition!” Marco said, striking a pose and pointing off into the distance.

“PFFT!” Rosa couldn’t keep a straight face at that, and laughed, along with everyone else.

“Oh my god, Marco... you are so overdramatic.” Ignacio managed to say.

“We appreciate it though,” Miguel said, still laughing.

“Yeah, yeah,” Marco said, the air taken out of his sails a little. “Well, come on.” He waved for them to follow towards the gazebo.

*****

For as silly as Marco could be, he really did know his stuff. He still let Miguel explain what he could, but was more than ready to fill in any gaps in musical knowledge. There were several songs played including, of course, some of “De la Cruz’s”. For now, Miguel had to suck it up and leave the masses to their ignorance, but Miguel was just waiting for the day where he could shout out how proud he was of his Papá Héctor for being the real musician.

Miguel at least took come solace in that his cousins also knew. It really helped lessen the sting when one of the musicians inevitably played Ernesto’s bastardized version of “Remember Me”. He had to fight a grimace the entire time.

“Hey, Miguel, something wrong?” Ignacio, unfortunately, had noticed.

“Oh, uh...yeah, it’s just...uhhh...anyone else getting thirsty?” Miguel quickly came up with an excuse.

“Well, now that you mention it, it is getting pretty warm, isn’t it?” Marco overheard and was inclined to agree.

Abel looked down to his sister after overhearing. “Didn’t abuelita give us some spending money?”

“Yeah,” Rosa answered, looking into a small purse she’d brought along. “She gave us enough for drinks and snacks for three, but with Miguel’s friends, I think we’ll have to stick to just drinks.”

“Huh? You’re including us too?” Marco asked, surprised.

“Might as well. You’ve been a big help with this whole thing. I have to admit, you know your stuff. Consider it a thank you.” Rosa said.

“I haven’t really done anything though…” Ignacio admitted bashfully.

Miguel playfully patted Ignacio’s shoulder, and said with a laugh, “Well, you’ve put up with our crazy family rules for long enough while you visit, I figure you’ve earned it.”

“So, that’s settled. Nacho, do you know of any good places in the plaza we can go?” Rosa asked.

“Yeah! There’s a place me an Marco go to all the time. Miguel knows about it too. I’ll show you.”

*****

The small shop was tucked away in a corner of the plaza. They managed to not only get some drinks, but Marco and Ignacio tossed in enough for them to be able to split some churros as well. They sat back in some benches under a shaded awning.

Rosa looked over to Miguel. “For once, I can’t blame you for any of the times you’ve snuck out here. They had some really great prices.”

Marco chimed in from where he’d kicked back to relax. “That’s why it’s popular with all the schoolkids. You guys are probably the only ones who’ve never gotten to stop in.”

“Well, when the owner found our you were Miguel’s relatives, she completely understood. She’s used to hearing him complain about how he’d always had to sneak out there.” Ignacio added.

“It’ll be nice being able to go whenever I want now.” Miguel said with a smile. “There’s plenty of things in the plaza besides just music.”

“But speaking of which,” Marco interrupted, “we should get back out there. So far we’ve managed to hear a few street performers, but see that?” He pointed to where a group in charro suits was gathering near the plaza. “Now’s the time of the early evening where the mariachi will start to come out and play. Some play for tips, or try to find people to hire them, usually tourists, but not always. Anyway, they’ll be playing soon, so why don’t we go check them out. I can already see they’ve got some instruments I haven’t told you about yet.”

*****

The late afternoon wore on into the early evening, as the sun started to dip lower to the horizon. The group was starting to tire out a bit, and they had taken to sitting down on some nearby benches, as the current group they had been listening to had started packing up and making way for someone else. Miguel, Marco, and Ignacio had started talking with each other about the various performances, while Abel listened in. Rosa, meanwhile, looked up at the sky before checking a watch she had with her.

“Sorry to break up the fun, but we need to get going.” She said, getting up.

“Awww. Already?” Miguel whined.

“What do you mean already? We've been out here for hours. It’ll be time for dinner soon, and you know abuelita will give us an earful if we’re late. We can come back tomorrow, the plaza isn’t going anywhere.” She said, hands on her hips.

Rosa really did remind Miguel of a mini-Imelda in a weird sort of way. Well, she probably got some of that from abuelita too. Either way, she had a point. He didn’t want to risk any chance of having Mamá Elena getting upset and changing her mind about the plaza. They’d best get back when they were told.

“Guess you’re right.” Miguel resigned. He turned around back to his friends. “Gotta go guys, sorry. I’ll see you later.”

“Thanks again for your help, Marco. It was nice meeting you. See you, Nacho.” Rosa said, with a wave.

They all said their goodbyes, with Marco giving them an invitation to visit his family shop sometime. Miguel knew that he at least wouldn’t need any further persuasion. He’d make a point to go the first chance he got. Then, the Rivera trio started making their way home.

As they made their way inside the gate, they could see Mamá Elena still cooking from the kitchen window, with Carmen helping. They’d made it with plenty of time. Their arrival didn’t go unnoticed, and Abel was called on by his father to help him move something in the workshop while Rosa left to go talk to her mother in the kitchen.

That left Miguel to his own devices, so he went into the family room. His mother and Tío Gloria were sitting together watching the television with the twins. It was almost surreal hearing the sound on for once.

“Oh, you’re back, mijo. Did you have fun?” Miguel heard his mother call as she noticed him enter.

“Sooo much fun! There was a bunch of music, and I met my friends while we were out too. It was the best!” Miguel said, as he greeted her with a hug.

“That’s good. I’m glad.” She said, smiling, as she patted him on the head. “Dinner will be ready soon, so why don’t you go wash up?”

*****

Rosa had been waiting outside the bathroom when Miguel had finished.

“Oh, good, you’re done.” She remarked.

“Yeah, it’s all yours.” He said and waved a dismissive hand as he walked past her. He hadn’t noticed her do a double-take.

“Hey, wait!” She said, grabbing Miguel by the wrist and stopping him in his tracks.

“Woah! Rosa, what the-?” He spun around, forcing her to let go of his arm.

“Y-your hand”, Rosa stammered, pointing.

“Huh?” Miguel looked down, and was greeted by the sight he had never wanted to see again. Once again, the skin on his fingers was retreating, or so it appeared, it’s transparency showing the white bones underneath, slowly creeping up to his hands. He gave a small yelp.

“No...no no no…not again!” He moaned, backing up slowly and bumping into the wall before letting himself slide down it to the floor. Staring at his hands, Miguel had no idea why this was happening again, and could only watch helplessly. The curse once again claimed his hands and started it’s way up his arms.

Rosa meanwhile, was stunned. She’d somewhat seen him the night before last, but had made a point not to stare. This time, it was hard for her not to. He was changing right in front of her eyes, and neither knew what to do. She crouched down to his level, wanting to help, but not sure how. Before she could think of anything, something else caught her eye.

Miguel saw her eyes shift and followed her gaze. For the first time, he saw the curse lay claim to his legs. It had raced up past his boot, and was quickly claiming his shins, seemingly affecting them much quicker than his arms. He immediately regretted his decision to wear shorts. He now felt too exposed for his own comfort.

“S-Stop staring!” He stammered as he quickly pulled his knees to his chest, and wrapped his arms around his legs, to shield them from view. Granted, it didn’t do much good to hide anything, as the curse was well on its way towards his elbow.

“W-what? Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Rosa apologized, as she started to snap out of it. “Oh, I know, I’ll go get your parents!” She said as she started to get up.

“No!” Miguel grabbed her dress suddenly, causing her to jump a little, before letting go. “Sorry, I... just give me a minute.”

He wanted a moment to try and calm himself down before anything else. This was definitely a shock. He’d thought after the night before, when he’d gone the entire night curse-free, that this whole ordeal was over with. Was last night some sort of fluke? Was this whole thing going to just be completely unpredictable? While he took some solace in the fact that his family knew the details about it this time, it didn’t help that he was still self-conscious about the whole thing.

Rosa, to her credit, had stayed in place. As she looked him over, she winced slightly. “It...it doesn’t hurt, does it?” She asked, concerned. The curse had finished laying claim to his legs, and was creeping up towards his shoulder.

“No.” He gave a heavy sigh, resigning himself to his fate, before resting his chin on his knees. “It looks terrible, but it doesn’t hurt.”

Rosa still looked him over with a worried look, obviously not entirely convinced. She reached out as if to touch him, but her hand hovered indecisively before pulling back. Miguel didn’t mind, as he couldn’t blame her for being hesitant. He was just impressed she hadn’t running off screaming yet. As it was, she was the first of his living family to see the transformation.

“I’m surprised you’re taking this so well” Miguel admitted. “I figured this would have creeped you out.”

“I would be a lot more if I didn’t know what was going on.” Rosa admitted as much. “Honestly? It is pretty creepy, but...oh geez, okay, no, really creepy….but, kinda intriguing too? Like, how does your skin just kinda disappear like that? It’s still there, right? I can still kinda see it. It almost looks like it’s glowing.”

It was then, Miguel remembered Rosa did have a bit of an adventurous, curious streak. It was working in his favor. Not that he had a decent explanation for her.

“I think is actually is glowing.” He said, inspecting his skeletal hand. “It did when I was in the Land of the Dead too. This whole curse thing is magic, but I have no idea how it works. I mean, I didn’t think magic was even real before this. But, I think everything like my skin and stuff is still there. It’s just...invisible? I guess?”

The more he tried to explain it, the more he realized how little he knew of the workings of his curse. Still, Rosa’s curiosity made the current situation easier to deal with. He could work with that.

“Here, see for yourself.” He said, presenting his hand to her, so she could see for herself. She was apprehensive at first, but slowly reached out to take it.

“Woah...you’re right. It still feels normal.” Rosa said in awe, and took to gingerly inspecting Miguel’s hand. “This is so weird…”

Miguel couldn’t help but crack a small smile. Her curiosity at this point was almost endearing. Rosa finished looking at her hand through the transparent skin of his, and released his hand back to him.

“So... you’ll be okay?” She asked, still looking a bit concerned, as the curse overtook his shoulders.

“I think so. I’m just…” He gave another sigh. “This is just...I mean, I don’t know why this is all happening again. Why was I fine last night but not now? UGH...I just don’t get it.” He then proceeded to plant his face in his arms, frustrated. The curse finished up it’s work, reverting him to his previous skeletal form.  
He felt Rosa give him a comforting pat on his head. “Hey. I think it stopped.” She informed him.

Miguel looked back up and glanced over himself slightly. He craned his neck to check his shoulders, the sight of his bone joint greeting him.

“Ugh, this sucks.” He said with a grimace. “Is my face still okay, at least?” he asked, rubbing it.

“Huh? You mean is it see-through? No. It stopped right about here.” Rosa answered, indicating her lower neck as an example. “I’m surprised you can’t tell.”

“I can’t feel when it happens either. It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t feel like anything.” Miguel clarified. “I don’t know it’s happening unless I see it.”

“Really?” Rosa seemed surprised. “That explains why you didn’t noticed before I did.”

“Like I said, it’s magic and I don’t know how it works,” Miguel said with a shrug. “Thanks, by the way.”

“Huh?” Rosa was confused.

“For taking this so well.” Miguel added.

“Oh. Well. I mean...just think of it as making up for the first time. I did kind of avoid you, not that you noticed. I wasn’t really sure how to process all that at the time. Sorry about that.” Rosa finally admitted. “You read about magic and stuff happening in books all the time, but you never think you’ll actually see something like that in reality. Really threw me for a loop.”

“Tell me about it.” Miguel agreed. “Don’t worry about the night before. I wasn’t even sure what to do with myself. I’m just lucky everyone else handled it as well as they did. I’d probably be freaking out a lot more right now if you weren’t being so calm about it.”

Rosa smirked. “Well, at this point, I think I’ve just decided to roll with anymore weirdness coming from you. Besides, you don’t think I’d actually be afraid of our little Miguelito, would you?” She gave him a pat on the head.

“You didn’t seem that way earlier.” He retorted with a smirk of his own.

“Alright, you must be feeling better if you’re trying to get snarky with me.” She bapped him lightly on the head, which he rubbed indignantly, before standing up and offering her hand. “Here, you can’t spend all night on the hallway floor, right?”

“Heh, guess not.” He agreed, and let her help him to his feet, and he dusted off his shorts. “I need to figure out what to do.”

Rosa nodded in agreement.

Miguel tried to think quickly. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to hide out all night. Abuelita would be calling them for dinner any minute. Even if the family was aware of the circumstances this time, he still didn’t feel like having to deal with everyone at once. He was still rather self-conscious about his appearance too.

“I really don’t feel like everyone staring at me right now. It’s kind of embarrassing, you know?” Miguel admitted as much, rubbing his bone-exposed forearm. “Could you maybe do me a favor?”

“Need me to stall or something?” Rosa offered.

“Nah, not really. Wouldn’t do much good. Could you just...maybe ask my mamá to meet me in my room? You don’t need to tell her why.”

“Sure.” Rosa said, about to leave, but then turned around one more time. “Good luck.” She added, before heading down the hall.

Miguel, meanwhile, made a beeline for his room, making a mental note that he really needed to give Rosa more credit in the future.

*****

Miguel knew he didn’t have much time to figure out how he was going to break the news to his mother. He decided the best way would be to give her a way to guess on her own.

By the time his mother knocked on the door, he had kicked off his shoes and hid himself under his trusty blanket, with only his face peeking out.

“Come in.” He called, bracing himself.

“Miguel, why are you-?...” As expected, it didn’t take her long for her to connect the dots, and he could tell just by watching the way her expression fell.

“Oh. Oh, no. Mijo...did it happen again?” She asked softly, quickly walking over to sit next to him on the bed and put an arm around him.

Miguel nodded, his face turning red from embarrassment. “I don’t know why. I didn’t think it would. I’m sorry.”

“Shhh...nothing to be sorry about. It’s not your fault.” His mother said, calmly stroking his hair, but Miguel still noticed a slight strain to her voice.

“I didn’t want to worry you again.” Miguel said, sounding guilty.

“Miguel, listen to me.” She said, shifting herself onto the bed and coaxing Miguel to turn so she could look him in the eye.

“This is not your fault, and it’s only natural we’re worried for our little boy, because we love you and we want you to be happy and safe. You don’t need to keep apologizing about it. At least now we aren’t in the dark about everything. Even if we are still trying to take it all in and adjust, we’ll get through this.” She pulled Miguel closer to her in a hug.

“I really wish this would go away though.” Miguel let the blanket drop from his shoulders as he looked at his arm, and frowned. His mother couldn’t help but make a bit of an awkward expression. Miguel knew it still had to be hard for her to see him like that.

“We’ll just take things one day at a time, alright mijo?” She answered, forcing herself to smile gently once more.

He nodded, knowing that was really the only thing he could do.

“Maybe...it’ll go away by morning again?” He asked, trying to stay optimistic for both their sakes. So far, no curse during the day had been the one constant in this mess.

“I hope so.” His mother replied.

“Is it okay if I don’t feel like eating dinner with everyone else again tonight? I just wasn’t really ready for this, and the family will probably stare, and what if someone outside the gate sees me?! Uuugh, I’m starting to wish we didn’t have dinner outside.” Miguel moaned, as he rubbed his hands down his face, his imagination getting the better of him.

“Mijo, it’s alright. I don’t think anyone outside could see you with the gate closed, but if you’re more comfortable eating inside tonight, I don’t think your abuelita will object.” His mother assured him.

“If I’d had known this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have worn shorts. This has to be the worst timing. I know abuelita jokes that I looked like a twig, but I think now she might have a point.” He did his best to make a joke to lighten the mood as he pulled the blanket the rest of the way off, revealing his skeletal legs.

“Oh dear...” His mother said, bringing a hand up to her mouth, frowning a bit

Miguel winced slightly. “Yeah, I know, looks pretty bad. I’m surprised Rosa took it as well as she did, too.”

“Oh? She was with you?”

Miguel nodded. “She noticed this-” He lifted his hand, indicating the curse, “-before I did. We both freaked out a little, but she stayed with me the whole time.” Miguel gave a small smirk. “Who knew it’d take a magic curse to get her to actually be nice to me?”

“Miguel.” It seemed his mother almost wanted to scold him for that remark, but it came out sounding more amused. His mother couldn’t be angry at him, not under the circumstances. Curses aside, the rivalry between Miguel and Rosa was well-known to the family, so if there was any modicum of them actually getting along, she’d take it.

“Just make sure to thank your cousin, alright?” His mother finally just settled on that.

“Yeah, I already did.” Miguel smiled, feeling relieved that he was successful in lightening the mood.

“Alright.” His mother once again gave him that gentle smile. “You sure you don’t want to join the family for dinner?”

“Yeah. I just really don’t feel like dealing with everyone all at once right now.” Miguel admitted. Despite the fact that he was feeling much more relaxed at the moment, he still felt self-conscious. He also thought it was probably for the benefit of everyone’s appetites if a mostly skeleton boy didn’t join them at the dinner table just yet.

His mother nodded in understanding. “Well, Feel free to get changed into something you’re more comfortable in. I’ll let Mamá Elena know you’ll be excused from the table. Don’t worry about your father and the rest of the family, I’ll let them know what’s going on. We’ll check in on you later, and if you feel like joining us tonight, you know you’re welcome to anytime. Your Tía Gloria told me she’s managed to borrow a DVD from a friend of hers. A movie with music.”

That got Miguel’s attention. He had to admit he was curious. “I might be okay with a movie later. Gracias, mamá.” Miguel said, giving her a hug. She got up, gave him a gentle pat on the head, and left the room.

Miguel waited til she couldn’t hear her footsteps before dropping backwards on the bed, giving a huge sigh of relief. That had gone much better than he’d expected.

“Guess I just have to do like Rosa said, and just ‘roll with it’, huh?” He said, looking upside-down at Héctor’s guitar in the corner. “I think I’ll manage.” With that, he rolled off the bed, and walked over to start rooting through his drawers.

*****

Miguel had settled for a pair of soft flannel pajamas with long legs, but short sleeves this time, with little multi-colored soccer balls printed over them. They were one of his favorites. He also chose to forego his socks. As it was, he was still pretty self-conscious about his cursed appearance but, he decided, if he wanted his family to be comfortable with it, then he’d have to be comfortable with it first. Especially if it was going to keep cropping up at what seemed like random.

Mamá Elena once again brought dinner in for him. Too much food, as usual. He got through what he could, and left the rest on the tray, just like before.

After eating, he got bored and started examining his cursed form. He eventually decided to start with the bones of his feet. He remembered how he’d seen Papá Héctor’s feet all that night, because he didn’t have shoes. He hoped Papá Héctor would be able to get a nice pair from Mamá Imelda someday, now that they’d made up.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a light thunk against his door, followed by it opening. He’d left it ever so slightly open.

“Woah, Rosa?!” Miguel exclaimed, startled.

Rosa obviously hadn’t expected it to be open either. She just stared at Miguel for a moment.

“Sorry, I didn’t think it would open.” Rosa apologized. She had tried knocking with her foot, since her hands were full with a small box. She noticed the odd sitting pose Miguel was in. “What are you doing? Yoga?”

“Huh? Oh. I was looking at my feet. Trying to get used to seeing my own bones or whatever. It’s not as easy as you’d think.” Miguel said, a bit defensively in his tone.

“Hey, easy. I’m not gonna judge. Kind of funny though, that’d you;d be interested in feet considering you don’t like shoes.”

“Does everything have to be about shoes with you?” Miguel rolled his eyes.

Rosa put her box down and walked over to his bed. She pointed at his foot, and started listing things off. “Phalanges, metatarsals, cuneiforms, cuboid, navicular, talus...and the heel bone is called the calcaneus. Bet you didn't know any of that.”

Miguel, of course, did not. He hadn’t expected her to either, leaving him dumbfounded.

Rosa sighed, then explained. “Learning foot anatomy is important to making good shoes. If you helped in the workshop, you’d know that. Of course, not everyone in the family has the bones memorized, but I thought it’d be good information to know.”

“You are such a shoe nerd.” Miguel deadpanned, earning himself a smacking with his own pillow from Rosa.

“Ow, stop! Hey...careful around the guitar. Ow! If you hit it on accident, it might decide to curse you too!” Miguel said, worried more about a stray pillow damaging his precious family heirloom than getting injured.

Rosa stopped dead. “Wait, it can’t actually do that, can’t it?!” She eyed the guitar suspiciously.

Miguel laughed. “I don’t think so. It only had it out for me ‘cause I took it.”

“Geez...sometimes I wonder why you keep the thing that cursed you in your room of all places.” Rosa said with a shudder before turning back to Miguel and tossing his pillow back at him. Miguel caught it easily enough.

“It was my fault for taking it in the first place.” Miguel said, as he placed his pillow back. “Besides, it’s Papá Héctor’s, I want to take care of it.”

“Thinking maybe you can be nice enough to it that it’ll uncurse you?” Rosa asked with a smirk.

“Nah, I don’t think so. Only a family blessing was supposed to be able to break it.” Miguel shrugged.

“Yeah, that worked real well.” Rosa scoffed. “At least you’re still among the living...mostly. But hey, speaking of curses, I brought something for you to maybe help you out.”

“Huh?” Miguel was confused, seeing as he couldn’t really think of anything Rosa could have that could help much.

Rosa dug through her box, which now appeared to be full of some books, and pulled out a small, flat rectangular object, tossing it next to Miguel.

“A calendar?” Miguel picked it up, flipping through it. It was a small wall calendar, with pictures of flowers on each month’s page. November, of course, had Marigolds.

“Right now we’re not sure exactly when that curse of yours will pop up, right?” Rosa explained. “I had an extra calendar, so use it to write down the times it happens, and maybe we can find some sort of pattern.”

“But it’s only been four days. For all I know, it could just decide to disappear any day now.” Miguel complained, wanting to remain hopeful.

“But if it doesn’t, it’ll come in handy.” Rosa insisted. “It won’t hurt anything.”

“I guess.” Miguel relented. She had a point.

“Keep it organized. Maybe put a line through the middle of the boxes and use the top for morning, and bottom for nights. Also, don’t blatantly write what happened, just in case someone else finds it somehow.” Rosa suggested.

“I just planned on keeping this in my drawer, but whatever. Ok, so...November 1st, that’s when I got cursed. I’ll just put ‘Start’. November 2nd…”

Miguel worked through marking the dates. He decided he’d use a checkmark for mornings he woke up uncursed, which had been consistent so far. The night of the 2nd and 4th had ‘sunset’ written on the bottom halves to mark the closest time he could guess the curse had appeared, given his suspicions that the curse somehow worked on a night to day basis. That just left him with the empty night space for November 3rd.

“I guess I can maybe put an ‘x’ for nights I don’t end up cursed?” He asked Rosa.

“Sounds fine, as long as it makes sense to you,” Rosa answered.

Miguel marked the date with an ‘x’, then set about putting a line through the box for the 5th in advance.

“Hey, wait a second.” Rosa pointed at the dates. “Look. At the box for the 3rd. Notice something?”

Miguel looked closer at the box. A small, white moon icon sat relatively inconspicuously in the top corner.

“Full moon?” He noted. Indeed, he had noticed the full moon the night before but hadn’t thought much of it.

“I mean, it may not mean anything, but there’s lots of stories about magical things happening around nights of the full moon, right?” Rosa suggested.

“Rosa. I’m a skeleton, not a werewolf.” Miguel said flatly, unimpressed.

“Hey, I don’t hear any better ideas coming from you.” Rosa remarked.

“Fine. I’ll make a note.” Miguel relented, and made a small question mark next to the full moon icon.

It actually wasn’t a bad theory. But, if the curse kept up, Miguel didn’t find the thought of only having one night every month to be normal exactly ideal. Granted, it would also be better than nothing, he supposed, but he was still holding out hope that this would somehow eventually end on it’s own. Preferably sooner than later.

Rosa looked over his work, and nodded approvingly. “I have a few more things for you, if you’re interested.” She said, as she brought the small box over to the bed and set it down.

Miguel looked inside. “Books?”

He pulled one out and looked at the cover. It was a book about myths and legends from various parts of the world. There was a second book as well, this one covering Mexico specifically.

“So, you thinking any of these will help?” Miguel looked over one of them sceptically.

“Not really. I’ve already read them all, and nothing in them is anything like what happened to you. I just thought that if you’re planning on hiding yourself in here all night, it might be something interesting for you to read. And if those aren’t, maybe the last one will be.”

Miguel pulled out one final book, this one a little thicker than the others. It was a human anatomy book. Miguel gave an amused smile at it, and opened it. It didn’t take him long to find a Díagram of a human skeleton.

“Oh, hey, look. It’s me.” He joked.

Rosa rolled her eyes and smiled. “Nah, I can still see your obnoxious face.”

Rosa laughed as she caught the pillow Miguel had playfully lobbed at her in retaliation. She set it down on the bed, and leaned over the book to flip several pages, until a bookmark easily opened the section on feet.

“This is how I learned about the bones I told you about earlier. You probably don’t know or care, but making the right shoes for the right feet can help support the bones and muscles in the feet, which can affect the legs, knees, back, and posture. That’s one of the things that sets a good pair of shoes apart from the bad. Knowing this, I’ll be able to understand more about good shoemaking by the time it’s my turn to take over the family business.” Rosa explained, sounding rather proud of herself.

“You’re really serious about this.” He said, sounding somewhat confused, but also impressed. He never shared the family’s passion for shoes, but if he thought about how Rosa wanted to follow in his Mamá Imelda’s footsteps, and compared it to how he felt about wanting to be a musician like his Papá Héctor, he could kind of relate.

“You and Mamá Imelda really would have gotten along.” Miguel told her.

“Well, of course.” She said, proudly.

“Well, besides the fact that you secretly wanted to try music this whole time.” Miguel had to add. He decided he wasn’t going to let her be too smug. He got a half-hearted smack over the head with his pillow for his trouble.

“Whatever.” Rosa said, as she turned towards the small table. “Anyway, just take care of those books. Let me know when you’re done with them, and I’ll grab them. I need to get going. I told abuelita I’d take your plate back to the kitchen, and she’s probably wondering where I’m at by now.” She said, picking up the tray and heading towards the door.

“Oh, and she also said not to be a stranger, and to come out and see everyone if you’re feeling better.” Rosa added, passing along Mamá Elena’s message.

“Yeah. Thanks. I’ll try.” Miguel said, waving as Rosa left the room.

*****

Miguel actually did find the anatomy book to be somewhat interesting. Looking at the pictures of musculature made him grateful that at least it was only his bones that were visible. Muscles, he concluded, looked much creepier.

Also, Rosa had made memorizing them sound much easier. According to the book, the foot alone had 26 bones, way more than Rosa had listed off. He’d looked at the Díagram for hands as well. 27 bones. This would take a while. He read the total number of bones. ‘206 bones in an adult human body’ it had said, before he closed the book in defeat. There was no way he was going to be able to remember all of those. Maybe he’d just try to learn the important ones.

Now he wanted to do something else. It was still relatively early in the evening. Remembering the movie his mother had mentioned, he weighed his options. It hadn’t been so bad in the family room the first time he’d been cursed, since everyone mostly kept focused on the TV. He decided he could probably handle it.

Plus, he really was curious about what kind of movie it would be.

He hopped down from his bed, looking back at his blanket. He wondered for a moment if he should take it with him, just in case. He quickly dismissed it the thought. If he’d wanted to hide, he wouldn’t have picked short sleeves tonight in the first place, and he’d be wearing his socks. No, this was going to be a test for him as much as it would be for everyone else. He was a little more optimistic about it seeing how well Rosa had managed earlier.

Having made his decision, he made his way out to the living room. He paused before entering, taking a moment to peek out from the hallway. From the looks of things, the rest of the family was just starting to settle in as Tía Gloria set up the DVD player. Good, he hadn’t missed anything. Now he just had to make his entrance.

“So, uhh, what movie are we watching?” He asked as he walked out from the hallway, sheepishly rubbing his arm.

His parents turned to smile at him from the couch. He could tell some of the others had made an effort not to make too much of a reaction at his entrance. Then there was Rosa, who casually gave him a small smile and a thumbs up.

“Mijo! I’m glad you decided to join us.” His mother said, as she waved him over to her. Miguel complied.

“I...uh...kinda got bored, and wanted to see if the movie had started.”

“Of course. No need to be shy. Your Tía Carmen borrowed it from a friend of hers. It’s called “Moana”. You should like it, I hear it’s got plenty of music.” His mother told him.

Miguel’s face lit up. “All right!” If there would be music involved, he figured he could handle being out, even if things felt a little awkward.

To his surprise though, it really wasn’t all that bad. His parents let him snuggle up with them as they shared the loveseat, and outside of a few curious glances here and there, the rest of the family was taking things quite well. Miguel had a sneaking suspicion there’d been another family meeting about him at some point that night while he’d been in his room, discussing how best they’d handle things as not to spook him or whatever. Funny, he thought, as he was more worried about spooking them.

Whatever the case, it was all eyes on the TV once the movie started. Of course, he was immediately entranced by the music, but the scenery as well. He was amazed at how well they could make the water look so real. He loved Hei Hei, the rooster reminded him so much of Dante, although he still thought Dante wasn’t quite that dumb. Dante had never tried to eat a rock, at least. Probably. Overall, it was an amazing experience. One he thought he’d never get to see.

After the movie ended, he looked up to his parents with a huge smile on his face. “That was awesome! Can we get more movies with songs later!?”

His mother gave a small laugh. “We’ll see what we can find, mijo.” She assured him with a pat in the head.

“Glad to see you’re in good spirits, Migue.” His father smiled.

“Well, I figure there’s nothing I can do about this curse thing right now, so I might as well make the best of it, right?” Miguel said with a shrug.

“Well, if you’re feeling so much better, I suppose i can expect to see you at the dinner table tomorrow?” Mamá Elena said with a smirk, hands on her hips.

“Ah...errr...well…” Miguel started fidgeting. “I guess...just as long as no one from outside can see me.”

“Your secret’s safe with us, mijo. We’ll make sure of that.“ His Mamá Elena assured him.

“And everyone else won’t mind?” He said, looking around the room at the rest of the family.

“Of course not! And if they do, they’ll be dealing with me.” Mamá Elena said in her ‘you do not mess with my grandson’ voice. Everyone else quickly assured him that he would be most welcome back at the table.

Miguel smiled and gave a big nod. He had to admit, he was almost embarrassed at how much of a fuss they’d made over a simple question, but he was happy that there would be no further issues. Mamá Elena would make sure of that.

For the rest of the night, he decided to try to relax and have fun. He noticed that when he was more at ease, the rest of the family seemed to relax around him as well.

Most amusing were Benny and Manny, who hadn’t gotten to see much of him in his cursed form until then. After some initial confused staring, Miguel crouched down to let them know it was alright. The young twins then took it upon themselves to investigate. Miguel couldn’t help but laugh when Manny picked up his arm and peeked through the space between the forearm bones, which prompted Benny to try for himself. Carmen was about to scold the boys, but Miguel assured her it was fine. He was just happy they were too little to be scared or worried. If anything, they just laughed. They were too young to understand that anything was even wrong.

Seeing how comfortable Miguel was about it led to some of the adults eventually asking a few questions too, similar to the ones Rosa had asked earlier. He didn’t mind but, as before, didn't really have any decent answers. He told them how he was happy they weren’t afraid of him, and requested that everyone just try and treat him like they normally would.

And of course, as before, he remembered to sing Mamá Coco her papá’s song before she went to bed. They sang along together while Miguel played. It was one of the other things that had made this whole mess worth it. When he played, it was pure happiness.

Finally it came time for bed. His parents came with him to tuck him in, despite insisting that he didn’t need it, really.

“Fine, fine. You win.” He relented with an amused smirk as he climbed into bed, letting his mother pull his blankets over him. He knew they couldn’t help but worry over him.

“Goodnight, mijo.” His mother said, before his parents took turns giving him a goodnight kiss.

“Goodnight.” he said. With that, Miguel turned in for the night. Sleep came easily after such an eventful day, one of many more to come.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG!
> 
> I have had a hell of a time with this chapter. At some point, my interest in the Coco fandom started to wane, due to both natural fandom progression and burn-out. I decided the best course of action would be to take a break. That lasted til around July. Then, when I started trying to write again, IRL decided to kick my butt. I was much busier with work and various other things than I had been last year. Add in a healthy dose of depression, complete with the whole "I dunno why I bother, it's not like this is a popular fic" mindset, and it's a small miracle I even finished. Thankfully, I am stubborn and decided I would finish this because dammit, I told myself I would. And of COURSE, to make things harder, this chapter ended up being even longer than the last one, so it took even longer. Also, I couldn't get a beta reader this time, so I apologize for any mistakes I didn't catch on my own.
> 
> One other big thing I realized while writing this fic. I apparently got the wrong day for Dia de Muertos, which I didn't realize til it came around this year. OOPS! I blame the fact that there's a calendar in the background in the movie that has Nov. 1st circled, so I just figured that was the night the movie took place, but apparently the main date for the holiday is Nov. 2nd. Doesn't help that the movie doesn't exactly follow Dia de Muertos traditions completely faithfully, as in the movie the holiday is only one night instead of several days. So, for the purpose of this fic, please just pretend Dia de Muertos is the night of Nov. 1st in this particular Coco-verse, because it's too late for me to fix. I'll otherwise be doing my best to use the proper real life dates for events.
> 
> Also, I knew I'd have to bite the bullet and start making OCs to flesh out the town. I'm always nervous adding them to canon things, but Miguel needed some friends! Of course, it was too tempting not to use Marco, seeing as the fandom has added him into so many things already.
> 
> Lastly, to those who have read this after waiting so long, THANK YOU! Especially those who have commented. You help let me know there's people interested, which helps keep me motivated.
> 
> I make no guarantees on how long this fic is actually going to go, or when the next chapter will be, but I'll keep chugging along as best as I can. I do have some plans for it that I still want to write, so I'm hoping that'll keep me motivated. Just know that, in the even that I do need to cut it short, there WILL be some form of ending. I wouldn't want to leave you guys who've stuck with me hanging like that.
> 
> P.S. - Speaking of reader comments, let me know if there's anything you think would be fun to see, as I am totally up for reader suggestions. I can't guarantee it'll make it into the fic, since things are limited by various story factors, but if it does, I'll be sure to credit whoever came up with the idea in the notes!


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